Two weeks ago, Havas CEO Alain de Pouzilhac lost his fight to keep nemesis Vincent Bolloré from seizing four seats on the holding company’s board, but the feud between the blue-blooded holding company chieftain and the corporate raider raged on.
Reports of de Pouzilhac’s imminent resignation flew through the French press late last week as Bolloré kept the heat on his battered rival, meeting with de Pouzilhac to discuss “management issues”; taunting him by telling the French press he was surprised de Pouzilhac had stayed on; touting a deal with Sebastian Holdings, which owns 4 percent of Havas, to sell its interest to Bolloré if it decides to unload its shares; and increasing his stake in the company from 20 to 22 percent.
The next showdown in this high-stakes Gallic grudge match is scheduled for tomorrow, when the Havas board meets in Paris for the first time since Bolloré’s June 9 triumph, when de Pouzilhac failed to get his compensation passed and two of his board allies re-elected.
As of Friday evening Paris time, a Havas representative said it was “absolutely not true” that de Pouzilhac had already resigned. (After his bruising defeat at the shareholder meeting, de Pouzilhac made a defiant promise to his troops to stay on amid widespread expectations that his departure was imminent.)
“The only person who knows is Alain,” said one executive about whether or not the embattled current CEO will soon be an ex-CEO. “Bolloré doesn’t know what [Alain’s] going to do either … but one of them will force the issue.”
The Havas rep declined further comment. Bolloré was not immediately available.
If de Pouzilhac decides to leave, he would open the door for Bolloré to handpick a new leader, and sources said his first preference is Jean-Marie Dru, CEO of TBWA Worldwide.
Bolloré has been talking to Dru on and off for months, according to sources.
Dru, who has been CEO of TBWA since April 2001, is said to be seriously mulling the chance to step up to run a holding company that, at an estimated $2 billion in revenue, is rougly twice the size of TBWA, albeit much smaller than its holding- company rivals.
A 58-year-old Frenchman who moved his family back home in September, Dru may feel the emotional tug of running a French institution. “That job would make him part of the French business intelligentsia,” said one source. What’s more, he would be in line for a significant financial windfall should Havas sell all or part of itself.
Despite its instability and small size relative to other holding companies, Havas is still revered in France, and Dru, who made a name for himself leading the French agency BDDP, could be tempted by the opportunity to be a “national hero” if he could turn the company around, one executive said. Havas “has a national profile,” he said, noting its historical connections to the French government.
Dru was traveling on Friday and did not return several messages. A TBWA rep said, “We don’t comment on rumor and speculation,” before declining further comment.
In April, Dru signed a new contract with TBWA parent Omnicom Group that pays an annual base salary of $720,000 a year plus 225,000 euros, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Based on the current exchange rate, the total base salary adds up to more than $1 million a year.
Beyond the salary, the contract provides “minimum aggregate bonus payments” of $6 million for 2005, 2006 and 2007; executive benefit and incentive plans (including stock-based plans); as well as fringe benefits and perks, according to the filing. For example, Dru gets a monthly allowance of up to $5,000 to rent an apartment in New York, an annual car allowance not to exceed 15,000 euros and an annual family travel allowance up to $30,000.
Havas Board Meets As Bolloré Courts Dru
