At 79, Maurice Lévy wishes to renew his mandate as chairman of the supervisory board of Publicis at the general meeting of the third largest communication group in the world, he confirmed to AFP on Tuesday on the sidelines of the exhibition presentation. Vivatech technologies.
"
I confirm that the supervisory board asked me and insisted, as well as Arthur Sadoun (chairman of the management board), that I submit the renewal of my mandate to the vote of the shareholders
" on May 26, he said. declared.
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Maurice Lévy joined the advertising group in 1971 to lead IT, succeeding at the end of 1987 the founder Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet (then 82 years old) as chairman of the management board, which he held for 30 years.
In 2017, he gave up his place to Mr. Sadoun and replaced Élisabeth Badinter, daughter of Mr. Bleustein-Blanchet and first shareholder of the group, at the head of the supervisory board.
As revealed by BFM Business at the end of March, the Publicis group was the object of many covets - including American funds - in 2020, during which its share price was first strongly affected, before rebounding at the end. year following the presentation of encouraging results, in particular on its digital transformation.
“
As soon as the price started to drop because of the pandemic, we were the object of a lot of solicitations.
Our duty is to listen to all the proposals,
”Mr. Lévy told AFP.
On the other hand, "
no negotiation took place,
" he said.
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Mr. Lévy also denied the discussions mentioned in the press with the Vivendi group, owner of the Havas group (one of Publicis' competitors) and controlled by Vincent Bolloré.