Case 33: Vivendi Universal (France, 2002)

• Prof. Dr. Klaus Henselmann
• Dr. Stefan Hofmann

Initially, Jean-Marie Messier was being celebrated as a new kind of French business hero. In 1996, Mr. Messier (who liked to be known as “J2M”, after his initials) took over as CEO of the water company “Générale des Eaux”, a French institution, which he re-baptised “Vivendi” in 1998. In the years to come, he went on a buying spree and made a series of audacious acquisitions, transforming Vivendi from a water and sewage treatment company into one of the world’s largest media and telecommunications empires. Under Messier’s leadership, for example, Vivendi completed a USD 30 billion buyout of Canada’s Seagram and a USD 10 billion purchase of USA Networks Inc., the cable and entertainment company owned by Hollywood mogul Barry Diller. At the end of 2001, Paris-based Vivendi was one of Europe’s largest conglomerates, including the Universal film studios and the Universal music group in the United States. It had securities traded on the Paris Stock Exchange as well as on the NYSE. Messier, who was a classic French technocrat by training, tried to re-invent himself as a global entrepreneur – a kind of Gallic Rupert Murdoch. With his jet setting lifestyle, he became a media star, dominating the front pages of magazines and newspapers. And he was paid handsomely; Vivendi even financed him a USD 20 million penthouse on New York City’s Park Avenue.

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