for other uses see havas disambiguation . havas group type public company traded as euronext hav industry business services founded france 1968 as havas conseil founders alain de pouzilhac and jacques herail headquarters paris france key people vincent bollor chairman jacques s gu la vice chairman yannick bollor ceo products advertising marketing media revenue 1.441 billion 2009 1 net income 92 million 2009 owner group bollor 60 % 2 number of employees 17 500 website havasgroup.com havas french pronunciation avas is a french multinational advertising and public relations company headquartered in paris france . it operates in more than 100 countries and is one of the largest global advertising and communications groups in the world . havas consists of two main operational divisions havas creative group including havas worldwide arnold worldwide and a range of other agencies havas media group including havas media havas sports & entertainment and arena media . 3 the group offers a broad range of communications services including digital advertising direct marketing media planning and buying corporate communications sales promotion design human resources sports marketing multimedia interactive communications and public relations . contents 1 introduction 2 history 2.1 timeline of the havas name 2.2 havas conseil havas advertising 2.2.1 snyder communications inc. 3 havas s.a. 4 services 5 case against former directors 6 references 7 external links introduction edit the company which today bears the name havas is itself a former subsidiary of the original havas which acquired the rights to the name in 2002 . it is a holding company headquartered in puteaux paris and listed in the euronext main market . havas was the first french news agency created in 1835 emerged in the age of the austro hungarian empire . the agence france presse afp news agency comes from it . havas was acquired by vivendi in 1998 and renamed vivendi universal publishing . vup in turn merged with lagardere to become editis in 2004 . french corporate raider vincent bollor through his holding company the bollor group is the main shareholder controlling 32.84 % of the share capital as of 7 may 2012 . bollor himself took over the chairmanship of the havas board pr sident du conseil d administration . history edit timeline of the havas name edit havas is the family name of charles louis havas . he created the first french press agency in 1835 . year event 1879 the havas news agency incorporated as a soci t anonyme plc . 1920 havas merges with the soci t g n rale d annonces and becomes the leading press manager later extended to radio and cinema domains . 1923 started billboarding . 1945 the havas news agency is nationalised after the fall of the vichy government . starts up in the travel business . later extended to free newspapers professional and other publications 1968 creates havas conseil s.a. to become advertising and media consultants 1975 havas conseil s.a. changes its name to eurocom 1987 the havas news agency is privatised and becomes havas s.a. 1996 eurocom s.a. changes its name to havas advertising s.a. 1997 havas sa absorbs c.e.p. communication 1999 vivendi takes over havas 100 % 2000 havas renamed vivendi universal publishing and sells off havas advertising 2002 havas advertising buys out the name havas havas conseil havas advertising edit by 1968 havas had become a diversified group which had inter alia media interests . these interests were incorporated into a soci t anonyme havas conseil s.a. which expanded its business rapidly . in 1975 havas conseil became eurocom holding company of a group of subsidiaries specializing in various communications activities . since the 1970s the group grew significantly in france and internationally both in the communications and media buying sectors by broadening the scope of services that it offers and expanding into new communications techniques and technologies . havas was first listed on the paris bourse now the euronext paris in 1982 . the principal milestones in the group s strategic development are the following in 1991 eurocom acquired the french advertising group rscg leading to the creation of the euro rscg worldwide advertising network . rscg had been the lead advertising agency for peugeot . in 1996 eurocom changed its name to havas advertising and created four operating divisions euro rscg campus diversified agencies and m diapolis . american bob schmetterer is named chairman and ceo of the largest division euro rscg whose headquarters are moved to new york in 1997 . in 1998 compagnie g n rale des eaux led by jean marie messier changed its name to vivendi and acquired control of havas and its subsidiary havas advertising ; it acquired a third of havas in february 1997 and the remainder in march 1998 in a deal that valued the company at 6 billion 4.05 billion . 4 vivendi later considered its advertising and communications interests no longer strategic . between 1998 and 2001 late in the wave of consolidation within the advertising communications sector havas advertising adopted an aggressive acquisition strategy in order not to become a takeover target following its independence from havas . in order to become a bigger and more global player it acquired mpg and snyder as well as around one hundred specialized agencies in america europe and the asia pacific region . this strategy was criticised by maurice levy as reckless . 5 media planning group was created in 1999 through the combination of media planning s.a. a spanish media planning and buying company controlled by l opoldo rod s casta es and his family with m diapolis the existing havas media planning business . havas initially acquired 45 % of mpg which was increased to 100 % in may 2001 . snyder communications inc. edit on 4 april 2000 at the height of the m & a frenzy havas advertising agreed 6 to acquire snyder communications inc. snc in an all share transaction where snc was valued at us 2.1 billion . snc was a listed communications group controlled by daniel snyder and their activities were mainly outsourced marketing services such as direct marketing database marketing proprietary product sampling sponsored information display in prime locations call centres field sales . just prior to the takeover the market capitalisation of snc was just us 1.3 billion . as part of the snc deal havas advertising lists american depositary shares adss on the nasdaq national market system . the deal was completed on 25 september ; the stake belonging to vivendi is diluted to 40 % following the acquisition . by agreeing to sell snc snyder availed himself of the means to set another record acquiring the washington redskins team and their stadium for 800 million in may 1999 in the most expensive transaction in us sporting history . snc s three divisions bounty sca worldwide arnold communications and brann worldwide were respectively merged with euro rscg campus and diversified agencies . 7 arnold communications becomes havas second network arnold worldwide partners . havas s.a. edit in 2002 havas the parent company decided to rename itself vivendi universal publishing and to divest itself of its remaining stake in the havas advertising . so the havas advertising board decided to acquire the havas name from its parent . the decision was approved by the annual shareholders meeting held on 23 may 2002 . in september 2003 the group re centred itself around three core divisions agencies from the diversified agencies division were sold or absorbed into the remaining divisions euro rscg worldwide integrated communications ; mpg media planning and buying and arnold worldwide partners advertising . in july 2004 after having completed its strategic reorganization bollor group starts to build a stake in havas . in october the company completes a 404 million capital increase which enabled it to reduce its overall debt levels . by 2005 bollor had amassed a 22 % stake obtained 4 seats on the havas board at the shareholders meeting 8 and took control of the company . chairman and ceo alain de pouzilhac was deposed in a boardroom coup on 21 june 2005 . other board and management level changes followed . 9 the board appointed independent non executive director richard colker as interim ceo . 10 on 12 july 2005 havas named vincent bollor as board chairman and veteral banker philippe wahl as chief executive officer . 11 in march 2006 havas names fernando rod s vil son of the founder of media planning s.a. leopoldo rod s casta es as its new ceo . havas remains listed on euronext but delist from the nasdaq stock exchange as of 28 july 2006 . 12 in march 2015 the group s main shareholder bollore s.a sold a 22.5 percent stake in the firm for around 600 million though announced it intended to remain a majority shareholder . 13 services edit havas is a media holding company whose subsidiaries provide communication consulting services through traditional advertising media television radio and print and display to media buying and various marketing services such as advertising management direct marketing sales promotion corporate communications healthcare communications internal communications television sponsorship design human resources communications interactive communications . attempting to be perceived by clients and potential clients as more entrepreneurial and more agile havas adopted a new structure in late 2012 . the agency network once known as euro rscg was rebranded havas worldwide much like their compatriots publicis and their network named publicis worldwide . other advertising agencies owned by havas such as arnold worldwide are rebranded havas creative ; the media division remains as havas media . havas created an umbrella brand havas digital group to operate across the creative and media divisions . 14 case against former directors edit holding 22.01 % of the share capital of havas on 21 june 2005 bollor ousted ceo alain de pouzilhac . 10 15 havas then dismissed h rail for gross negligence ; vice chairman alain cayzac and others close to de pouzilhac were also relieved of their services . alain de pouzilhac took havas to court to seek unblocking of payment for non compete that havas had been withholding ; civil cases were also launched by both for severance pay a total of ten cases including appeals involving de pouzilhac four involving h rail . 16 payment for de pouzilhac s non compete clause was upheld . h rail and former havas executives alain cayzac and agn s audier won at the labour tribunal where h rail was granted damages of close to 5 million . 17 since the boardroom coup bollor had consolidated control by further increasing his stake which stands at 37 % november 2012 . havas seized the nanterre criminal court on 15 may 2007 and again in august and november 2007 to initiate three cases by against de pouzilhac h rail and cayzac accusing them of conspiracy misappropriating from the company and attempting to cover up . havas alleged that the three directors had signed new employment contracts during the takeover that gave them generous golden parachutes in the likely event of their removal . 15 also de pouzilhac was accused of conspiring with h rail to grant payment of 300 000 to fellow director thierry meyer . 15 the preliminary inquiry into the charges under public prosecutor philippe courroye lasted three years during which time the accused were given either sporadic or no access to evidence for their defence contrary to the legal requirements . 16 the tribunal took the view that the criminal proceedings had not complied with proper procedures nor with the european convention on human rights . the nanterre court said that specifically the provisions of this convention relating in particular to access to the case file the personal assistance of counsel during the investigation and the balance between the parties had not been met . in its decision the court considered that given the weight and complexity of the case which has 700 items a preliminary investigation was not the most