Vivendi Universal SA

Type	Public (Euronext: EX, NYSE: V)
Founded	2000
Location	Paris, France
Key people	Jean-Bernard Lévy (Chairman and CEO) Jacques Espinasse (Chief Financial Officer)
Industry	Media
Products	Music, film, publishing, pay TV services, programming
Revenue	€21.428 billion (Y/E 31.12.04)
Website	www.vivendiuniversal.com

Vivendi Universal (VU) is a French conglomerate active in media and communications with activities in music, television and film, publishing, telecommunications and the Internet. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1500x400, 12 KB) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... A public company is a company owned by the public rather than by a relatively few individuals. ... Euronext N.V. is a pan-European stock exchange with subsidiaries in Belgium, France, Netherlands, Portugal and the United Kingdom. ... New York Stock Exchange (June 2003) The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) , also nicknamed the Big Board, is by far the largest stock exchange in the world (by dollar volume) and second largest by number of listings. ... The Eiffel Tower, the international symbol of the city, with the skyscrapers of La Défense business district 3 miles behind. ... A chief executive officer (CEO) or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or executive officer of a corporation, company, or agency. ... Revenue is a US business term for the amount of money that a company can receive from its activities, mostly from sales of products and/or services to customers. ... Image File history File links Red_Arrow_Down. ... The front page of the English Wikipedia Website. ... Music is a human activity which involves structured and audible sounds, which is used for artistic or aesthetic, entertainment, or ceremonial purposes. ... Film refers to the celluloid media on which movies are printed. ... This article is concerned with the production of books, magazines, and other literary material (whether in printed or electronic formats). ... BlackBerry 7100t Telecommunication refers to the communication of information at a distance. ...

The company disclosed a corporate loss of €23.3 billion in its 2002 annual report, the worst loss to date for a French company. Amid intense media scrutiny, its flamboyant Chairman and CEO, Jean-Marie Messier (who had overseen the most dramatic phase of the company's diversification), was subsequently replaced by Jean-René Fourtou. For the Cusco album, see 2002 (album). ... The phrase Chairman of the Board has several meanings: Chairman of the Board is the term used to denote the leader of a corporations board of directors. ... Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is the job of having the ultimate executive responsibility or authority within an organization or corporation. ... Jean-Marie Messier (born December 13, 1957) is a French businessman known for his flamboyance. ...

Messier's rapid expansion of the firm, during which he overpaid hugely for media assets, saddling the company with debt far in excess of its market valuation and ultimately bringing it to the brink of collapse, has become a study in the triumph of personal ambition and greed over common sense.

History

Vivendi Universal was created in December of 2000 with the massive merger of the Vivendi media empire with Canal+ television networks and the Canadian company Seagram, the owner of Universal Studios film company. What had once been Vivendi's core business (water and waste services and other utilities) had previously been spun off as a separate company, now known as Veolia Environnement. This article is about the year 2000. ... The phrase mergers and acquisitions or M&A refers to the aspect of corporate finance strategy and management dealing with the merging and acquiring of different companies as well as assets. ... Vivendi SA was created in 1998 when Compagnie Générale des Eaux (CGE), a major French industrial and media company, was renamed. ... The title of this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. ... The Seagram Company Ltd. ... Error creating thumbnail: convert: unable to open image `/mnt/upload3/wikipedia/en/0/0c/Universal_logo. ... Veolia Environnement SA is a leading French-based company with activities in four main areas - water, waste management, energy and transport services. ...

See the individual companies' articles for pre-merger company history.

2001

• In 2001, VU acquired MP3.com and a leading American publisher, Houghton Mifflin.

2001: A Space Odyssey. ... MP3. ... Houghton Mifflin Company is a leading educational publisher in the United States. ...

2002

• In 2002, VU began facing financial trouble. It began financial reshuffling, trying to shore up media holdings while selling off shares in its spin-off companies.
• VU reduced its stake in Vivendi Environnement to 40% and sold its stake in Vinci Construction.
• The flamboyant company's Chairman and CEO, Jean-Marie Messier (who had overseen the most dramatic phase of Vivendi's diversification) resigned. He was replaced by Jean-Rene Fourtou. The company then began reorganizing to stave off bankruptcy. The company announced its strategy to sell non-strategic assets. Its largest single shareholder was the family of Edgar Bronfman, Jr., who was head of Seagram at the time of the merger.
• VU sold its stake in Vizzavi to Vodafone, with the exception of Vizzavi France. It also sold 20.4% of Vivendi Environnement's capital to a group of investors, and its stake in North American satellite operator EchoStar Communications Corporation.

For the Cusco album, see 2002 (album). ... A spin-off (or spinoff) is a new organization or entity formed by a split from a larger one such as a new company formed from a university research group. ... Veolia Environnement SA (formerly Vivendi Environnement) is a leading French-based multinational with activities in four main areas - water, waste management, energy and transport services. ... Vinci Construction is a French construction company, formerly called Société Générale dEnterprises. ... The phrase Chairman of the Board has several meanings: Chairman of the Board is the term used to denote the leader of a corporations board of directors. ... Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is the job of having the ultimate executive responsibility or authority within an organization or corporation. ... Jean-Marie Messier (born December 13, 1957) is a French businessman known for his flamboyance. ... Notice of closure stuck on the door of a computer store the day after its parent company, Granville Technology Group Ltd, declared bankruptcy (strictly, administration - see text) in the UK. Bankruptcy is a legally declared inability or impairment of ability of an individual or organization to pay their creditors. ... Edgar Miles Bronfman, Jr. ... Vodafone Group plc (LSE: VOD, NYSE: VOD, FWB:VOD) is a British mobile phone operator headquartered in Newbury, Berkshire, England, is the largest mobile telecommunications network company in the world by turnover, with equity interests in 26 countries and Partner Networks (networks in which it has no equity stake) in... Echostar Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH) is the parent company of Dish Network and the maintainer of the satellite fleet that provides the signal which Dish Network markets. ...

2003

• VU sold Canal+ Technologies to Thomson (formerly Thomson Multimédia); Tele+ to News Corporation and Telecom Italia. It also sold its 26.3% interest in Xfera.
• On March 6, 2003, Vivendi disclosed its annual report (term ended at December 31,2002), that is downloadable in pdf format on its site. Some highlights include:
  • Corporate loss of €23.3 billion: the worst loss for a French company.
  • Net debt of €12.3 billion
  • Vivendi will sell assets for 7 billons euros in 2003
• On December 1, 2003, Vivendi closed a deal to sell MP3.com to CNET.
• Defying predictions that it would be unable to raise the cash needed, VU bought out one of the two minority shareholders in Cegetel, taking its holding to 60 percent, with Vodafone holding the remaining 40 percent. Management viewed the mobile communications firm as a core asset once the bulk of media assets had been sold off. Vodafone remains keen to add Cegetel to its portfolio and a move to gain control, possibly via a bid for the whole of VU, cannot be ruled out in the future.

This article concerns the media and entertainment company. ... News Corporation (abbreviated to News Corp) (NYSE: NWS) is one of the worlds largest media conglomerates. ... Telecom Italia is a formerly partially state-owned Italian telco. ... Xfera is the name of the future fourth mobile operator of Spain. ... March 6 is the 65th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (66th in Leap years). ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... December 1 is the 335th (in leap years the 336th) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... MP3. ... CNET Networks Inc. ...

2004

• The Vivendi Universal Entertainment branch merged with NBC to form NBC Universal, with VU retaining a 25 percent stake.
• VU also sold its interests in Kencell, Monaco Telecom and Sportfive (which it held through Canal+ Group).
• VU sold Newsworld International to the business partnership of Joel Hyatt and former Vice-President of the United States Al Gore
• VU and Valve Software (makers of Half-Life) went head to head over the distribution of Half-Life 2 to cyber cafés, they later came to an agreement stating:
  • The authority of distributing cyber café licenses are to be handed over to Valve from VUG (and Sierra), and licenses granted by VUG and Sierra to cyber cafés prior to the agreement are revoked.
  • VUG would cease distributing all retail packaged versions of Valve games by August 31, 2005.
• VU bought the rights to the game Redneck Rampage after Interplay's corporate shutdown.

NBC, the National Broadcasting Company, is an American television and radio network based in New York Citys Rockefeller Center. ... NBC Universal is a media and entertainment conglomerate formed in May 2004 by the combination of General Electrics NBC with Vivendi Universal Entertainment, part of Vivendi Universal. ... Newsworld International (NWI) was a cable TV news channel broadcasting in the United States, whose content contained a mix of CBC and other international newscasts. ... Joel Z. Hyatt is a prominent attorney and American politician of the Democratic party. ... The Vice President of the United States is the second-highest executive official of the United States government, the person who is, in the words of Adlai Stevenson, a heartbeat from the presidency. ... Albert Arnold Gore, Jr. ... Valve Software is a Bellevue, Washington-based video game developer made famous by its first product, Half-Life, which was released in November 1998. ... Half-Life For a quantity subject to exponential decay, the half-life is the time required for the quantity to fall to half of its initial value. ... Half-Life 2 is a science fiction first-person shooter computer game and the highly anticipated sequel to Half-Life, developed by Valve Corporation. ... E-Corner First internet cafe, was located at Waverley station An Internet cafe or cybercafe is a place where one can use a computer with Internet access for a fee, usually per hour or minute; sometimes one can have unmetered access with a pass for a day or month, etc. ... Redneck Rampage is a 1997 first-person shooter game designed by Xatrix Entertainment and published by Interplay. ... Interplay Entertainment Corporation was an American video game and computer game publisher and developer. ...

2005

• In 2005, VU became involved in a controversry over the future of the popular King's Quest game.
• On 16 December, it was announced that Canal Plus would merge with TPS, France's second largest Pay-TV provider. If the 5 billion euro ($5.9bn; £3.4bn) tie-up is approved, VU will own 85% of the combined entity.

Kings Quest IV screenshot (low resolution 160x200 version. ... December 16 is the 350th day of the year (351st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... The title of this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

2006

• On January 17, 2006 Vivendi announced that it will end its American Depositary Receipt program and its listing on the New York Stock Exchange by the end of quarter 2 2006, due to lowered trading volume on its shares and high costs. [1]

On April 20, 2006, Vivendi Universal announced that shareholders approved a name change. It dropped the "Universal" from its name; now it will be called merely "Vivendi." A new corporate logo was simultaneously unveiled. January 17 is the 17th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... An American Depositary Receipt (ADR) is how the stock of most foreign companies trades in United States stock markets. ... New York Stock Exchange (June 2003) The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) , also nicknamed the Big Board, is by far the largest stock exchange in the world (by dollar volume) and second largest by number of listings. ...

Current assets (partial list)

• Canal+ Group - 100%
• Universal Music Group - 92%
• Vivendi Universal Games - 99% (which includes Blizzard Entertainment)
• NBC Universal - 20% long-term ownership interest
• SFR - 56%
• Maroc Telecom - 51%
• Sierra Entertainment
• Seagram

The title of this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. ... Universal Music Group (UMG), formerly MCA Music Entertainment (see Music Corporation of America), is the largest major label in the record industry. ... Blizzard Entertainment is a PC game developer and publisher. ... NBC Universal is a media and entertainment conglomerate formed in May 2004 by the combination of General Electrics NBC with Vivendi Universal Entertainment, part of Vivendi Universal. ... Société Française de Radiotéléphonie is a French mobile phone company. ... The most recent logo (Sierra Entertainment) Sierra Entertainment was a computer game developer and publisher active from 1980 to 2004. ... The Seagram Company Ltd. ...

See also

• List of French companies
• List of assets owned by Vivendi Universal

This is a list of companies from France. ... This is a list of assets owned by Vivendi Universal. ...

External links

• VivendiUniversal.com - Official site
• VU Games
• Ketupa - Vivendi and Universal extensive profile