Call off the headhunters: French advertising agency Havas yesterday ended its contentious quest for a new chairman, naming corporate raider Vincent Bollore to the post. Bollore, who built his $2.2 billion fortune shaking up companies like Bouygues and Mediobanca, had amassed a 22% stake in Havas over the past year. He and three allies joined the board, prompting the ouster of Chairman and Chief Executive Alain de Pouzilhac.

Gannett Co., the nation's biggest newspaper publisher, posted a slight decline in second-quarter earnings Wednesday on lower broadcasting revenues and higher costs for interest and new presses at its Detroit newspaper.

Omnicom Group is acquiring 70% of Luntz Research, a Washington polling firm headed by Frank Luntz, one of the best known of the capital's political pollsters.

Mel Karmazin appears to be nostalgic for his traditional radio days. Karmazin, as chief executive officer of Sirius Satellite Radio, is considering a bid for Disney's radio unit, The Post has learned. Sirius' interest would likely raise eyebrows in the media world given the satellite radio industry's constant preaching that the best days for traditional - known as "terrestrial" - radio are in the past.

Newspaper advertising revenue has been advancing this year, but the results -- especially over the past several quarters -- reveal a slowdown. Miles Groves, a media economist, puts it in this blunt context: "We're in a world where the industry is growing at 3% but that's not enough." So where does that leave publishers who are trying to push the pedal on growth? Controlling costs can only help so much. Even Wall Street analysts, who usually welcome such reductions, are growing weary of this tactic.

Walt Disney Co. is considering a process to extract cash from its $3 billion radio station-network group, then structure a tax-free spinoff for shareholders, according to a media report Tuesday. The move could come soon after Robert Iger replaces the outgoing Michael Eisner at Disney, The Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition citing unnamed people briefed on the company's plans. Disney declined to comment, The Journal said.

Disintermediation is overrated. Those who fear disintermediation should in fact be afraid of irrelevance -- disintermediation is just another way of saying that you've become irrelevant to your customers. It doesn't mean there isn't a customer, or middlemen of some sort who service that customer, or that the core proposition of your business has disappeared. It just means you're in a bit of a rut, and as much as you might pine for the past, it's probably time to rethink things before it's too late.

In this retro season that has taken baseball back to Washington and big-league sluggers closer to their natural size, a new breed of radio is reclaiming its place on the front porch. Displaced fans who used to need a pricey cable package or a high-speed Internet connection to follow their favorite teams now only require a hand-held satellite radio, the familiar voice of a hometown broadcaster and a healthy imagination. Anyone who does not know the difference between Wi-Fi and hi-fi can simply turn the dial.

In many schools, Coca-Cola is best known for the red-and-white cafeteria vending machines that sell its beverages. But starting next month, the company will be promoting something very different: exercise and healthy living. In a program called Live It, Lance Armstrong and other sport figures will appear in posters encouraging children to be active. Melanie White, a Coke executive who oversees the company's vending business in secondary schools and other youth markets, said the program was aimed at sixth graders.

"Lots of interest in satellite radio but don't expect big advertising dollars anytime soon." So was the sentiment from participants in Banc of America's advertising mini-conference held on July 11. The discussion examined what impact Howard Stern's upcoming move to the satellite radio space will have on advertising dollars.