In anticipation of the end of his mandate in 2025, Maurice Lévy, Publicis Groupe Chairman of the Supervisory Board, submitted to the Groupe’s governing bodies a proposal to change the company’s governance.
The change would see the company shift from a dual structure corporation with a Supervisory Board and Management Board (Directoire), and instead adopt the model of a single structure corporation with a Board of Directors.
Publicis Groupe said the Supervisory Board unanimously approved the proposal, which will be subject to a vote by shareholders during the upcoming Annual General Meeting next month.
In this new structure, Arthur Sadoun would become Chairman and CEO of the Board. His appointment would be accompanied by the creation of the role of Lead Director, and the reinforcement of the Board’s committees, as part of a well-balanced governance model and in line with AFEP-MEDEF guidelines.
Lévy would be named Chairman Emeritus. In addition to attending board meetings, he would preside over a mixed group of board members and executives, “with a clear focus on innovation and foresight,” said Publicis Group adding that the changes would allow for the continuation of the partnership formed by Lévy and Sadoun, which in the past seven years has seen Publicis become first in the industry on market capitalization.
“Publicis Groupe has a long history of anticipating change and transforming itself to face the future,” said Lévy.
“The primary responsibility of any board is to ensure that a company has both the governance structure and the teams it needs to lead it forward. With this in mind, I proposed changing the governance of the Groupe in order to put in place a Board of Directors, with Arthur Sadoun as Chairman and CEO. It’s the most effective way of maintaining the Groupe’s success, now and in the long term.”
Arthur Sadoun added, “The aim of this change in governance is simple: to preserve the driving forces behind the Groupe’s success and maintain the model that has made Publicis our industry’s most valuable company in terms of market capitalization.
It will also allow us to continue the duo that we have formed with Maurice Lévy since 2017, which has seen Publicis extract itself from the pack and emerge as a clear leader in our sector. The continuity of our partnership, combined with the incredible talent of our teams around the world and our best-in-class capabilities make us more confident than ever in our ability to help our clients transform and thrive in this ever-changing environment, and drive even greater value and innovation for all of our stakeholders. For those reasons, I hope that our shareholders will support this proposal.”
