Jacoby Ousted as Chairman of Ted Bates Advertising Agency

Robert E. Jacoby, who earlier this year led Ted Bates Worldwide Inc. into the corporate arms of Saatchi & Saatchi Co. in advertising’s biggest merger ever, was ousted Friday as Bates’ chairman and chief executive.

Donald M. Zuckert, 52, former president of Ted Bates’ New York office, was selected to replace Jacoby in both posts, the company said in an announcement.

Jacoby, 58, will be offered “a senior management position” with Saatchi & Saatchi Communications, the statement said. Saatchi & Saatchi Communications oversees the London-based Saatchi’s advertising and marketing companies. He had been chief executive at Ted Bates since 1973 and chairman since 1976. Neither Zuckert nor Jacoby was available for comment.

“This decision was made on the basis of the long-term development of the business,” said Anne McBride, a spokeswoman for Saatchi in New York. “We and the people at Bates shared the view that Don Zuckert was the best man to manage the business.”

She denied speculation that Saatchi was unhappy with Jacoby because Bates refused to renegotiate the terms of the merger despite a heavy loss in clients. Bates lost about $235 million in billings from clients in the wake of the merger announcement, she said.

A source at Ted Bates, speaking on condition of anonymity, said executives at both Ted Bates and the parent company were upset earlier this month that Jacoby had not told them in advance of making some top-level executive changes.

Ted Bates was a privately held advertising concern ranked as the nation’s third largest when it announced in May that it had agreed to be acquired by Saatchi & Saatchi for $450 million.

The merger vaulted Saatchi to the top of the ad world with billings of about $7.5 billion. Jacoby has refused to comment on how large a stake he held in Ted Bates, but reports have said that he stood to make between $85 million and $100 million on the merger with Saatchi.