Shareholders of French agency group Publicis have voted in favour of creating a single unified board after a near unanimous 95% backed the move at the firm’s AGM in Paris.
The agency had previously operated with two separate management and supervisory boards fronted by CEO Arthur Sadoun and company veteran Maurice Lévy respectively.
Despite a small rebellion concerned with Sadoun’s accumulation of both the CEO and chairman role, he will now lead the newly-formed unified board in combination with his existing CEO role.
Ultimately, shareholders chose to back Sadoun’s appointment with 77.6% of the total votes. Close to 1 in 4 (22.4%) voted against, alongside some abstentions.
Campaign reports that leading proxy advisory group Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) encouraged investors not to back Sadoun’s newly-combined role, despite the company’s healthy growth in the face of stuttering rivals.
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“Contrary to what some proxy advisers think — you know these specialists who advise investors and who have never managed a company in their life —well, the management of a company is not only carried out according to standards and rules, but above all according to ‘the H factor’, the human touch so essential in everything,” Lévy said.
“Companies are biological, human bodies where alchemy counts above all else. The human dimension has always been very present in our mode of operation and our managerial choices.”
He continued: “This is the right decision for our group, at the right time. I proposed this change in governance to ensure Publicis’ continued success, and to consolidate all of the elements that make it such an exceptional company, from its family-led roots, its values and its indomitable spirit.”
The AGM marked Lévy’s last as chair, having led Publicis as CEO for 30 years before chairing the supervisory board for the last seven. Now 82 years of age, Lévy will not have a seat on the new board.
