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Publicis boss Maurice Levy shows he’s still a player with mooted $1.6bn bid for digi company Criteo

maurice_levy_bonus-300x200We observed the other day that WPP boss Sir Martin Sorrell had come out fighting after currency movements blitzed WPP’s revenues and profits.

Now his old enemy Maurice Levy (left) at Publicis Groupe seems poised to make a big statement that PG – which saw its proposed mega-merger with Omnicom collapse – is bouncing off the ropes with a reported $1.6bn bid for internet company Criteo.

Criteo tracks shoppers behaviour on the web and turned over more than €400m last year, 60 per cent up on the year before.

So it’s big but Levy has never been afraid to shell out big bucks for digital businesses – Digitas, Razorfish and Rosetta among them.

He said, post the merger collapse, that he saw PG’s future as an “internet company.” Which may be slightly worrying for the bosses of the Publicis, Leo Burnett and Saatchi & Saatchi agencies.

Anyway, the old boy seems to be back in the game. We suspect that if PG buys Criteo he won’t be stepping down as CEO any time soon.

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