Bolloré Ups Stake in Harris Interactive

Billionaire investor and Havas Chairman Vincent Bolloré has bought another $376,000-worth of Harris Interactive shares, bringing his stake in the business to nearly 13%.

Bolloré bought the stock late last week, after Harris announced financial results, which showed annual revenue up 13%, while pro forma organic revenue dropped 1%. President and CEO Greg Novak puts the decline down to the deterioration of the macro-economic environment in North America which has hit the firm's pharma business particularly hard.

In the past year, this decline has caused Harris share prices to fall from around $4 to $1.40, and Bolloré has made the most by increasing his shareholding from around 6% to 12.89%. This month alone, while shares were at their lowest figure, he snapped up nearly $500,000 of the agency's stock.

Ranked as one of the world's richest people by Forbes magazine, Bolloré is a major shareholder in British media services holding company and Synovate-parent, the Aegis Group, and has spent the past two years trying to gain representation on the Aegis Board.

Earlier in the year, he took full control of French opinion polling and market research group CSA-TMO, in a move to strengthen his presence in the market research sector.

Web sites: www.havas.com and www.harrisinteractive.com .