Speculation about a merger between French-owned marketing groups Publicis and Havas has re-emerged following a French media report. Havas pre-dates even the venerable Publicis although it’s now owned by Vivendi, controlled by French tycoon Vincent Bolloré (left.) Son Yannick runs ...
Read More »Is fear of a Vivendi bid behind Publicis and $5bn Epsilon?
If you think the Accenture/Droga5 tie-up is a big deal, think what may be happening in France. Publicis is considering a $5bn offer for data firm Epsilon, its biggest potential deal so far and one that has spooked shareholders as ...
Read More »Yannick Bolloré to take charge of Vivendi as well as Havas
The son also rises, they do in French business anyway. Vivendi chairman and leading shareholder Vincent Bolloré has announced that son Yannick (both below) will take from him as the big boss sometime over the next year, subject to the ...
Read More »New-style BETC opens in LA with online dance project
Still in Paris, sort of, BETC is opening an LA office (although it’s dipped a toe in the water before) with a new online fitness platform LA Dance Workout and La Dance Magazine, developed with Benjamin Millepied and his LA ...
Read More »Vivendi deal for Havas creates new adland giant
The ad world now has a big new player, French music to Canal+ operator Vivendi which is buying the Bolloré family’s 60 per cent stake in Havas in a €2.3bn cash deal. Vivendi, led by paterfamilias Vincent (below with sons ...
Read More »Havas CEO Yannick Bolloré joins father Vincent at French media giant Vivendi
Life’s never dull with a Bolloré or three around and now Vincent Bolloré has tightened his grip on French media giant Vivendi by appointing son Yannick, also CEO of Bolloré-owned Havas, to Vivendi’s supervisory board. Bolloré senior, who has numerous ...
Read More »BETC and Vivendi team for new business incubator company Le Cargo
Ad agencies have been trying to develop non client sources of revenue since the Stone Age, nearly always unsuccessfully. The latest fashion in this is ‘incubators,’ using agency marketing skills to give a leg up to new businesses in which ...
Read More »Havas owner Bolloré and Far Cry Primal maker Ubisoft gear up for their own gaming fight
The latest in Ubisoft’s Far Cry game series is Far Cry Primal, set back in the Stone Age and great fun it looks too: featuring a rather cuddly (albeit fierce) sabre tooth tiger. Agency is BETC Paris, an obvious choice ...
Read More »Ubisoft kicks back at Bolloré with media switch to WPP
Vincent Bolloré’s machinations usually conclude with the Bolloré coffers even more full than before but the French magnate (below), owner of Havas and the biggest shareholder in and chairman of French media giant Vivendi, has suffered a reverse at the ...
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