Who's bezzie friends with Google?

It was handbags at dusk last night at the World Economic Forum in Davos as WPP boss Sir Martin Sorrell and Maurice Levy, chief executive of rival ad group Publicis, got pretty petty over who was better friends with Google. At issue seems to have been the acres of media coverage that Publicis received earlier this week when it announced a technology "collaboration" and staff-swap with Google. In a rather catty Davos exchange, Sorrell questioned whether the whole deal was a bit of a smoke-and-mirrors job that proved that Publicis had an "Achilles heel" in the technology department. "Next time I meet with [Google chief executive] Eric Schmidt, I think we'll send out a press release," he said. Ooooh. "He's a financier, I'm an engineer, and you can see the difference," struck back Levy. "I'm pleased with what we have done, and I'm sorry that my dear friend has not understood it." With such dear friends like these, who needs enemies?