The company was founded as Wire and Plastic Products plc in 1971 to manufacture wire and plastic shopping baskets. In 1985, Martin Sorrell, looking for a listed company through which to create a global marketing services company, bought a controlling stake in it. In the 1980s, WPP began expanding due to buying other companies. In the following years, WPP was buying dozens of companies every year. In January 1987, the company bought Scott Stern Associates, then Scotland's largest design and advertising company. In the same year (1987), the company bought J. Walter Thompson (including JWT, Hill & Knowlton and MRB Group) for $ 566 million. In 1988, the company was registered on NASDAQ (and later transferred to a secondary listing on NYSE). In 1989, it bought the Ogilvy Group for $ 864 million.