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Bolloré not a quitter

Posted in Advertising, Marketing, Branwell Johnson, Latest reporters' blogs April 10th, 2008 by Branwell Johnson

If at first you don’t succeed try, try, try, try and even try again, seems to be the motto of Havas chairman Vincent Bolloré who is taking a fifth tilt at placing his nominees on the board of rival group Aegis.

Bolloré could almost become a new metaphor for “not giving up the struggle” a la the spider that span the web in Robert the Bruce’s cave. One can admire his tenacity but it is beginning to feel more like a personal battle than one driven by commercial imperatives.

Will he be knocked back gain by the shareholders? It depends if he can muster any new arguments, although with the cold chill of economic slowdown breathing down everyone’s necks maybe Bolloré will be able to conjure up something persuasive.

Behind all this posturing though the key question remains when will the man whose name often use to appear next to the words “corporate raider” in the press make his big move on Aegis? No less a personage than WPP’s grandee Sir Martin Sorrell suggest that it will be in the summer. Maybe Sir Martin has a crystal ball, Bolloré will certainly need some kind of balls.

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