Publicis’ Levy: Buying Interpublic Will Not Be My Swan Song
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When Maurice Levy announced a five-year, $4 billion acquisition plan last week, it felt like a big undertaking in what marks the final phase of his 40-year career at Publicis Groupe. But it was also a commentary on what the French ad giant’s CEO is not doing: buying a rival holding company.
“A lot of people think as a last move I should acquire IPG,” Mr. Levy said, referring to the Interpublic Group of Companies. “This is not something we are contemplating. … Why should we go after a holding company and through a restructuring? I’m just trying build something rock-solid.”
Something, he says, that can withstand some of the early mistakes “a successor will inevitably make” — much like missteps that Mr. Levy acknowledges he made in the “80s after Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet passed him the torch.
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