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'''APCO''' and its later manifestations, '''APCO & Associates''' and '''APCO Worldwide''' have been through many changes in ownership and control since it was founded in 1984 by the law firm [[Arnold & Porter]].
# It began life as the real-estate holding company for the partners of [[Arnold & Porter]] law firm which serviced Philip Morris at a board-room level. It was then known as '''A&P Co.''' and it was the brian-child of real estate partner Myron 'Mike' Curzan. It was run at this time initially by one of the legal partners of the firm, '''Robert J Samors'''.# It was converted from a shelf-company to a public relations firm for the tobacco industry with the hiring of [[Margery Kraus ]] (from the "Close Up Foundation" -- her husband Steven is a was an A&P lawyer). It was initially known just as '''APCo''', and later, by capitalising the last letter, as '''APCO.''' It began to provide services to tobacco companies other than Philip Morris, and then later still to companies outside the tobacco industry. The origin in Arnold & Porter were not admitted at this time (They are now included in the firm's puff pieces.)# It initially services serviced only Philip Morris, and then the Tobacco Institute. But later it was expanded as a general-service public relations firm (hiding its tobacco industry connections) and became '''[[APCO & Associates]].''' Later , as it established offices outside the USA , it changed the name to '''APCO Worldwide'''.
# In 1991 it was said to have been 'acquired' from Arnold & Porters by the umbrella media firm [[Grey Communications International]] (GCI), which made it a subsidiary of Grey Advertising, New York's largest advertising and public relations firm with about $7 billion in revenues. This later became Grey Global.
# In September 2004 it was absorbed by [[Martin Sorrell]] into his WPP Group (multi-media global giant) when they swallowed up the Grey Global empire. The WPP Group had [[Hamish Maxwell]] (retired Chairman of Philip Morris) as Non-executive Chairman from 1996 to 2001.
# September 2004 is also given as the date in the APCO Puff piece claims, when "''Margery Kraus led a management buy-out of her firm from Grey Global Group, making APCO one of the largest privately owned communications and public affairs firms in the world."''
== General ==Arnold & Porter was one of Washington D.C.'s largest law firms, and it was also well known as the Philip Morris board-room law firm. During the period of initial control of APCO by Philip Morris and the lawyers, it became extended its role to become a general [[tobacco industry]] law PR firm. It developed links to both Lorillard and RJ Reynolds Tobacco. It also developed a mythical claim to story about its origins, claiming that APCO was founded in 1984 by [[Margery Kraus]] who served as its first president and chief executive officer. [http://www.apcoworldwide.com/content/bios/Kraus.cfm]. On the strength of this myth she has regularly been awarded achievement-awards: from the 1997 "PR PRofessional of the year" award; the 1998 "Businesswoman of the Year" award, (virtually annually). to the 2006 award of "Washington PR Woman of the Year." She also received the Matrix Award for Professional Achievement (D.C. Association for Women in Communications), in 2006. ==Real Origins==<B> Fortune Magazine</B> in July 1987 had something to say about the origins of the company. <BLOCKQUOTE> It comes as no surprise to find Washington public relations firms pursuing lobbying bucks; what does have some old-time noses out of joint is the flocking of local law firms in the other direction, into PR and related fields. The most notable example: Arnold & Porter, a prestigious 230-man law firm that three years ago formed <B> APCO Associates, </B> a grab-bag subsidiary that provides lobbying, public relations, and a host of other services from real estate development to management consulting. Arnold & Porter set up APCO as a separate subsidiary mainly because it wanted to hire non-lawyers. The practice is allowed by the American Bar Association as long as the unchurched are not made partners or misrepresented to clients as lawyers. <B> APCO </B> is the brainchild of <B> Myron ''Mike'' Curzan </B>, a real estate lawyer and longtime Arnold & Porter partner. The idea came to Curzan four years ago as he helped a client, the University of California at Irvine, develop faculty housing. ''We ended up doing it all: hiring contractors, doing the bidding, developing bond financing, and managing the project,'' he says. Curzan brought in nonlawyer <B> Margery Kraus, </B> a vice president of a nonprofit foundation. Now APCO's president, Kraus says the operation has been profitable from the beginning and has grown to a staff of 54. ''We're a one-stop shop in the truest sense,'' says Kraus. A few months back, the Advanced Center for Technology Training, a Michigan company, came seeking lobbying help to get federal funding for its product, a work station that retrains assembly-line workers, among others. ''They hadn't developed a business plan, didn't know their competitors, hadn't thought through their marketing strategy,'' says Kraus, who told them APCO could help them with all that and do the lobbying and PR too. [http://money.cnn.com/magazines/firtybe/fortune_archive/1987/07/20/69283/index.htm]</blockquote>
APCO now has offices and is headquartered in Washington D.C. and has offices in 24 locations in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa and employs 470 people. [http://www.odwyerspr.com/members/pr_firms_database/prda11a.htm] [Later claim is 600 professional staff]
