• Financial Times, et al, Sunday, April 25, 2010 10:27 PM

The board of Publicis, the Paris-based advertising and marketing group, is "not happy" with the idea of Maurice Lévy retiring as chairman and chief executive next year, he said yesterday, as he hailed a stronger-than-expected rebound in revenues as "a turning point" for the industry. Speculation about possible successors began when it became known that Lévy's contract expires at the end of next year. Lévy told the Financial Times he was not seeking to renew his contract and would not consider such a proposal, should it be broached, till the second quarter of 2011.

An extension of Lévy's contract could stoke speculation about the plans of possible successors, Ad Age reported. Within Publicis Groupe, there is speculation that the leading candidate to succeed him is Jean-Yves Naouri, exec vice president-group operations.

 

One influential shareholder likely to have a strong say is agency founder Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet's daughter, Elisabeth Badinter. She is a Publicis shareholder and member of the group's supervisory board, which she has chaired since 1996. (Her son Simon Badinter and niece Sophie Dulac also sit on the 15-person supervisory board.)

 

Publicis Groupe announced 3.1% growth in organic revenue for the first quarter of 2010, doubling the 1.5% organic growth reported by French rival Havas earlier this week. The acquisition of the Razorfish digital agency, which was completed at the end of October, helped lift total revenues by 8.1%.

Under Lévy's tenure, Publicis Groupe has grown to include ad networks, including Saatchi & Saatchi and Leo Burnett, and media-buying operations, including ZenithOptimedia and Starcom MediaVest, says The Guardian.

Publicis Groupe also has a major stake in Matthew Freud's PR firm and a minority stake in ad agency network BBH. In recent years, Lévy has been on a mission to reduce Publicis Groupe's dependence on traditional advertising. The company has made a string of digital buys, including Digital in 2006.

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