Sung Chih-ming, who personally oversaw the firm's transformation from what was little more than an in-house service department of the Cathay group to a branch of the US agency, says that at first the ads from Cathay companies were enough to keep the agency going, but because there were no restraints placed on hiring, it was overstaffed and lost money as a result.
親手將本土製的國泰建業，改制、過渡到外商奧美公司的宋秩銘回憶道，當初從國泰集團來的廣告量足夠養活國泰建業，但因公司用人沒有節制，人員太多，以致一直處於虧錢狀態。