WHO HAS THE BASKET CONCESSION?:

Spirit of revolt in France touches Havas (Eric Pfanner, JUNE 10, 2005, International Herald Tribune)

The investor Vincent Bolloré won a showdown Thursday with the management of Havas, the French advertising company, as shareholders defied the company's leaders during a raucous annual meeting infused with the spirit of revolt that is running through French society.

Bolloré, who holds a 20.7 percent stake in Havas, was elected to the company's board, along with three other officials representing his investment firm. The Havas board, led by the chief executive, Alain de Pouzilhac, had urged shareholders to reject Bolloré's bid for board representation, saying he had consistently failed to express his intentions since he started buying Havas shares about a year ago.

While the vote, in an assembly hall in the 7th Arrondissement of Paris, was a far cry from the storming of the Bastille, Bolloré portrayed his victory as consistent with the populist impulse expressed by French voters two weeks ago, when they rocked the nation's political leaders by voting no on a referendum on the proposed European Union constitution.

Ah, populism in France, it's enough to get your knitting needles clicking...

Posted by Orrin Judd at June 10, 2005 12:00 AM