Acquisition

WPP Group PLC
24 May 2001


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                               24 MAY 2001


                            WPP acquires Finsbury

WPP Group plc ('WPP') announces that is has acquired 100% of the issued share
capital of Finsbury Limited ('Finsbury'), the leading European financial
communications company.

Founded in 1994 in London, Finsbury fast established a reputation as one of
the most admired companies in its field, advising international companies on
their communications with the global financial communities.  It specialises in
financial communications, investor relations and public affairs.

Finsbury represents UK-listed companies worth in excess of £100 billion,
including 12 FTSE 100 clients, as well as leading Euro 300 and Fortune 500
companies.  Clients include Cable & Wireless, Centrica, Hilton Group,
J Sainsbury, Great Universal Stores, Lloyds TSB, London Stock Exchange and
Pilkington.

The consultancy, which employs 60 professionals, has been one of the fastest
growing in its sector.  In the first quarter of 2001, it was second in the M&A
advisory tables, measured by transaction value, according to Mergermarket.com.

Recent high profile corporate projects have included Lloyds TSB's bid for
Abbey National, Innogy's acquisition of Yorkshire Electricity, TI's merger
with Smiths Industries, Thames Water's acquisition by RWE and Cable &
Wireless' disposal of Optus.

In the past year, Finsbury has also handled the demerger of National Power and
subsequent listings of International  Power and Innogy, the demerger of
Williams to form Chubb and Kidde and the listing of RTL.

Finsbury's public affairs unit numbers Reed Elsevier, Lloyds TSB, Innogy and
Capital Radio among its clients.  Since its inception a year ago it has worked
on several major transactions including Western Power Distribution's bid for
Hyder, the sale of the Belfast Telegraph by Trinity Mirror to Independent News
& Media, the acquisition of a joint controlling stake in Telewest by Microsoft
and General Electric's bid for Honeywell.  Finsbury also has a Brussels office
which operates as the centre of a pan-European regulatory affairs network.

Finsbury  reported revenues of £8.2 million in the year to 31 October 2000 and
had net assets of £411,000 at that date.

Finsbury will operate independently within WPP and will benefit from access to
one of the world's leading advertising and marketing services networks.
Following the transaction, Finsbury will open an office in New York, serving
European and US clients.

The acquisition of Finsbury further strengthens WPP's resources in the
financial services sector and continues the Group's strategy of building
leadership positions in fast-growing functional and geographical areas of the
communications services market.


For more information:

Feona McEwan at WPP 020 7408 2204
Roland Rudd/Rupert Younger/James Murgatroyd at Finsbury 020 7251 3801

www.wpp.com

www.finsbury.com