AD Agencies
Vivendi shareholders give goahead to spinoff Canal+, Havas and Louis Hachette group
MUMBAI: If you thought, the world of advertising is only going through fusion following the acquisition and merger of Interpublic group by the Omnicom group, you would be better off thinking otherwise.
In Europe, there’s fission taking place. The combined general shareholders of Vivendi yesterday gave the company the go-ahead to break into pieces. 97.5 per cent of the votes were in favour of the separation of Vivendi from Canal+, Havas, and the Louis Hachette group (the company bringing together the 66.53 per cent investment in Lagardère and 100 per cent of Prisma Media).
The first trading day for the shares of these three companies will therefore take place, as announced, on 16 December 2024, respectively on the London stock exchange, Euronext Amsterdam and Euronext Growth Paris.
With a quorum of 71.96 per cent of shareholders present or represented, the two resolutions requiring approval by a two-thirds majority of votes, namely those regarding partial asset contributions subject to the French legal regime applicable to partial demergers (apport partiel d’actifs soumis au régime des scissions), were overwhelmingly adopted with 97.57 per cent of the votes for the Canal+ partial demerger and with 97.58 per cent for the Louis Hachette group partial demerger.
The resolution regarding the distribution in kind of Havas NV shares to the Vivendi shareholders, requiring the approval of a simple majority of votes, was adopted with 97.61 per cent of the votes.
Said Havas chairman & CEO and chairman of the supervisory board Yannick Bolloré: “We are delighted with the very high adoption rate of our spin-off project. This undisputable result confirms the strong support of our shareholders for this transformative transaction. Over the past year, the teams have been working on this transformative project, which aims to better reflect the value of Canal+, Havas, Lagardère, and Prisma, which have been impacted by a conglomerate discount affecting the group for several years; to unlock their full potential in a global landscape filled with significant investment opportunities.This vote gives new momentum to Canal+ group, Havas, Lagardere and Prisma Media and marks a new era full of opportunities for Vivendi. The company will continue to play its role, particularly by pursuing the transformation of Gameloft and optimizing its portfolio of high-quality assets.”
AD Agencies
Abhay Duggal joins JioStar as director of Hindi GEC ad sales
The streaming giant brings in a seasoned revenue hand as the battle for Hindi television advertising heats up
MUMBAI: Abhay Duggal has a new desk, and JioStar has a new weapon. The media and entertainment veteran has joined JioStar as director of entertainment ad sales for Hindi general entertainment channels, adding 17 years of hard-won revenue experience to one of India’s most powerful broadcasting operations.
Duggal is no stranger to big portfolios or bruising markets. Before joining JioStar, he spent a brief stint at Republic World as deputy general manager and north regional head for ad sales. Before that, he put in three years at Enterr10 Television, where he ran the north region for Dangal TV and Dangal 2, two of India’s leading free-to-air Hindi channels. The north alone accounted for more than 50 per cent of total channel revenue on his watch, a number that tends to get attention in any sales meeting.
His longest stint was at Zee Entertainment Enterprises, where he spent over six years rising to associate director of sales. There he commanded the Hindi movies cluster across seven channels, owned more than half of north India’s revenue across flagship properties including Zee TV and &TV, and closed marquee sponsorships across the Indian Premier League, Zee Rishtey Awards and Dance India Dance. He also handled monetisation for the English movies and entertainment cluster and the global news channel WION, a portfolio that would stretch most sales teams twice his size.
Earlier in his career Duggal closed what was then a Rs 3 crore single deal at Reliance Broadcast Network, one of the largest in Indian radio at the time, before that he helped launch and monetise JAINHITS, India’s first HITS-based cable and satellite platform.
His edge, by his own account, lies in marrying data and instinct: translating audience trends, inventory signals and client demands into long-term partnerships built on cost-per-rating-point discipline rather than short-term deal chasing. In a media landscape being reshaped by streaming, fragmented attention and AI-driven advertising, that kind of rigour is increasingly rare and increasingly valuable.
JioStar, which blends the scale of Reliance’s Jio platform with the content firepower of Star, is doubling down on its advertising business at precisely the moment the Hindi GEC market is getting more competitive. Bringing in someone who has spent nearly two decades doing exactly this, across some of India’s most watched channels, is a pointed statement of intent. Duggal has spent his career turning audiences into revenue. JioStar is clearly betting he can do it again, and bigger.
