Family Feud Threatens Publicis

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A court dispute among the descendants of late Publicis founder Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet could dissolve the family holding company that controls nearly half of the voting shares of Groupe Publicis S.A.
Michle Bleustein-Blanchet filed suit Oct. 7 seeking to dissolve Somarel, the closed family Publicis holding company. She went public with her intent to sell her shares last May, but was thwarted by her sister, Elisabeth Badinter, who owns a larger share of Somarel. Bleustein-Blanchet claims the bylaws of Somarel prevent her from disposing of her stock unilaterally.
If Bleustein-Blanchet succeeds in entirely divesting her shares in Somarel and those held directly in Publicis, it would result in the Bleustein-Blanchet family losing majority ownership of the agency.
According to Bleustein-Blanchet, Badinter has absolute control of Publicis with 52 percent of the voting rights in the group, thanks to the Somarel structure that Bleustein-Blanchet charges is illegal.
Taken together, the family owns 62 percent of Publicis’...



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