disputed . relevant discussion may be found on the talk page . please do not remove this message until conditions to do so are met . december 2014 learn how and when to remove this template message apco worldwide type private industry public relations founded 1984 headquarters washington d.c. ; brussels ; hong kong key people margery kraus founder & executive chairman ; brad staples ceo revenue 119.9 million 2015 1 number of employees 680 website http www.apcoworldwide.com apco worldwide is an independent global public affairs and strategic communications consultancy . with more than 600 employees in 35 worldwide locations it is also the second largest independently owned pr firm in the united states . 2 3 headquartered in washington d.c. apco was founded in 1984 by margery kraus who is now the firm s executive chairman . 4 most public relations firms focus on corporate communications but apco is usually hired to handle sensitive political and crisis management issues . many apco executives are former prominent government officials politicians and ambassadors . apco s clientele consists of multi national corporations governments politicians associations and nonprofit organizations . contents 1 history 2 notable work 3 controversy 3.1 the advancement of sound science coalition controversy 3.2 malaysia 3.3 hp controversy 4 references 5 external links history edit margery kraus founded apco associates in 1984 as a subsidiary to arnold & porter one of washington s largest law firms and from where apco s name is derived . 5 grey global group a new york based global advertising and marketing agency purchased majority ownership of apco in 1991 from arnold & porter . on september 28 2004 apco announced its independent buyout from grey global and has thus become one of the largest privately owned public relations firms in the world . 6 the firm has been described by public relations media outlet everything pr as one of the world s most powerful pr firms . 7 in 2016 kraus stepped down from her role as ceo for the role to be filled by brad staples who is a member of the london office . 8 notable work edit apco has handled the crisis for merck & co s withdrawal of vioxx from the market 9 and kazakhstan president nursultan nazarbayev hired apco to extricate himself from a four year long dispute with his former son in law rakhat aliyev . 10 worldcom hired apco worldwide to handle its political pr surrounding the media frenzy regarding its disclosure that 2.4 bn in expenses had been falsely reported in its financial results in 2002 . 11 apco stepped into prominence in india when it won the contract to promote and rebrand the gujarat global investors summit vibrant gujarat . 12 controversy edit the advancement of sound science coalition controversy edit the sound science coalition tassc was created in 1993 by phillip morris and apco in response to a 1992 united states environmental protection agency epa report 13 which identified secondhand smoke as a group a human carcinogen . 14 15 tassc developed local coalitions to influence media legislators and the public and recruited scientists and researchers to support philip morris s position . nonetheless tassc described itself as a not for profit coalition advocating the use of sound science in public policy decision making . 16 tassc s links to the tobacco industry were minimized as part of apco s strategy for tassc to appear to be an independent national grassroots coalition . to conceal this relationship tassc broadened their focus to question other scientific topics notable among them global warming . 17 malaysia edit on march 30 2010 malaysian opposition leader anwar ibrahim alleged in the malaysian parliament the dewan rakyat that the 1malaysia concept was mirrored after one israel concept and designed by mindteams sdn bhd a branch in malaysia of apco worldwide . he alleged that apco also created the one israel concept in 1999 for then israeli s prime minister ehud barak . 18 both apco and the barisan nasional government stated that anwar s allegation was untrue . malaysian lawmakers have tabled a motion to censure anwar for misleading the parliament over his 1malaysia one israel allegations which was passed by the parliament on april 22 2010 . 19 hp controversy edit in 2010 apco was involved in the controversial recommendation to fire mark hurd the ceo of hp . 20 kent jarrell a senior vice president wrote a mock news story which he showed to hp s board . during this same meeting he contemplated that hp would negatively be affected by bad press of its ceo being involved in an inappropriate relationship with an ex soft porn actress jodie fisher . 21 references edit http www.prweek.com article 1391543 apco worldwide prweek global agency business report 2016 us top pr firm rankings public relations agency rankings by o dwyer s public relations news . odwyerpr.com . hard facts on europe s biggest lobbyists revealed for the first time . lobbyfacts.eu . apco worldwide inc. company profile from hoover s . hoover s. statement of james w. jones center for professional responsibility . abanet.org . grey global group inc 8 k 20040928 form . yahoo.brand.edgar online.com . http everything pr.com apco worldwide billboard 2614 prweek global agency business report 2016 . hp advisor apco built crisis unit handling worldcom vioxx . bloomberg business . aug 11 2010 . feud in kazakh president s family spills in u.s. . the new york times . may 29 2011 . international troubled worldcom hires apco for crisis comms job . pr week . july 19 2001 . apco to market vibrant gujarat . the times of india . oct 15 2009 . us environmental protection agency respiratory health effects of passive smoking also known as exposure to secondhand smoke or environmental tobacco smoke ets . cfpub2.epa.gov . bisa k. ong md ms and stanton a. glantz phd constructing sound science and good epidemiology tobacco lawyers and public relations firms pdf . american journal of public health vol 91 no. 11 . november 2001 . apco associates proposed plan for the public launching of tassc . philip morris bates no. 2024233709 3717 . september 1993 . the advancement of sound science coalition untitled information sheet describing tassc bates no. 2046989061 pdf . monbiot george september 19 2006 . the denial industry . the guardian . london . retrieved august 11 2010 . parliament anwar claims apco was in m sia before 1malaysia concept was announced the star 30 march 2010 . thestar.com.my . ahmad razak april 22 2010 . malaysia parliament votes to censure anwar reuters 22 apr 2010 . in.reuters.com . hp adviser apco built crisis unit handling worldcom vioxx . businessweek . august 11 2010 . vance ashlee august 16 2010 . despite h.p. s efforts mark hurd spectacle goes on . the new york times . external links edit apco worldwide retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title apco worldwide & oldid 735071818 categories public relations companies based in washington d.c.public relations companies of the united stateshidden categories npov disputes from december 2014all npov disputesuse mdy dates from may 2012 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages bahasa melayu edit links this page was last modified on 18 august 2016 at 12 38 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit 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