Legal battle ensues between WPP, Grey and former leads of Yolk

A legal battle has ensued between minority shareholders and ex-employees of the now-defunct Yolk, WPP and the senior management of Grey Group.This has seen several court hearings happening in the past few days over a minority oppression trial, according to hearing schedules from the Supreme Court. Minority oppression typically involves majority shareholders who push forth their interests at the minority shareholder’s expense.The matter first surfaced in 2016, when minority shareholders of Yolk had complained about minority oppression from regional Grey Group management, Marketing understands.Following the move, WPP retaliated by suing former Yolk CEO and CTO Benjamin Tan and Adrian Lee respectively, who were shareholders, along with five former employees for violating their non-competitive convenants as they had set up businesses in venture building, IoT and social content automation platforms.The four minority shareholders of Yolk - Tan, Lee, Soh Kee Boon and Low Jun Jek - are then said to countersue WPP, Nirvik Singh and Ali Belgaumi, according to a hearing schedule. This was for minority oppression and making Yolk defunct by retrenching original employees, and transferring all remaining employees and clients to Grey Group Singapore.WPP is being represented by Shooklin & Bok, while the minority shareholders and ex-employees of Yolk are being represented by LVM Law Chambers LLC.Yolk was acquired by WPP in December 2010, and was rebranded to Grey Digital in 2014 to create tighter brand integration with Grey Group. Prior to the move, it was known as Yolk(at)Grey, with the Yolk brand being part of the digital landscape since 2001.Grey declined to comment, Marketing has reached out to WPP for comment.