• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, May 2, 2022

After two years of remote annual meetings, Publicis Groupe is returning to a live format for this year’s gathering, which will take place May 25 in Paris.

Among other business, shareholders will vote on nominees to the company’s Supervisory Board. There’s one new nominee—insurance and investment banking executive Tidjane Thiam who is former CEO of Prudential plc in the UK (not affiliated with the U.S. Prudential) and also a former Managing Director of Swiss bank Credit Suisse.

He is currently a member of the International Olympic Committee and director of Kering, where he chairs the Audit Committee. Since November 2020, he has served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Rwanda Finance.

Up for re-election to the Supervisory Board (chaired by former company CEO Maurice Levy) is Elisabeth Badinter, who is the daughter of Publicis Groupe founder Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet and a principal shareholder in the company.

I think it’s a safe bet she has the votes to get re-elected.

Shareholders will also vote on whether to award themselves a 2.40 euro per share dividend. Yeah, another safe bet that one will pass.