Saturday, August 19, 2006

THE FRENCH TRIED IT TOO... : IIPM

IIPM BUSINESS & ECONOMY
Tere are people who are known to live by the sword... and die by it. Former Vivendi CEO Jean-Marie Messier was one such man, who hoped to create a media and entertainment conglomerate that would rival the AOL Time Warner merger. His maniacal acquisition spree in a period of six years propelled Vivendi to the big league of the American media and entertainment industry. Messier first took the media world by a storm when he executed a massive $34 billlion merger of the Vivendi media empire, Canal+ TV networks and the Canadian company Seagram to form Vivendi Universal. He brought in Universal Studios, Universal Music and USA networks along with a series of telecom companies in Europe and the USA. Rather than enabling Vivendi to compete with Time Warner, these acquisitions dragged the group’s financials to the extent that Vivendi posted losses of €23.3 billion for the financial year 2001-02, the largest in French corporate history. The company also faced charges of fudging up accounts to show a good liquidity and had to pay $50 million as penalty. Jean-Rene Fourtou became the CEO of Vivendi in 2002, after Messier was forced out. Fourtou not only steered Vivendi out of losses by 2004 but also improved the financial health. Vivendi Universal is now right on track with total revenues of €19.48 billion in 2005, an increase of 9% 2004. Sometimes, a one man show makes for a good plot….

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Source :- IIPM Editorial, 2006

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