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Almost from the moment TBWA worldwide CEO Jean-Marie Dru turned down the Havas CEO post last month, Vincent Bolloré began to focus on a new leader who would come from what one insider called the “financial community.” And Bolloré, Havas’ largest stockholder and now chairman of the Paris-based holding company, characteristically got exactly what he wanted: newly named CEO Philippe Wahl.
One executive described Wahl, a former president of La Caisse Na-tionale des Caisses d’Epargne banking group, as “a known quantity inside French money circles” and a confidante trusted by Bolloré to “put the financial house in order.”
Wahl himself waited barely a week to declare impatience with what he sees as a disconnect between Havas’ human assets and its performance.
In a July 21 memo to the Havas troops, Wahl noted, “I have become aware of our strengths, the pool of talent, the desire for change, the thirst for new projects and...
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