Word: messier
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...says his distance from the C-suite is just as important as having occupied it. "A CEO knows his industry, so he is sick of seeing investment-banking teams come in and tell him he needs to buy a competitor he knows better than any of them," says Messier--a dapper suit and ready smile being his only holdovers from Vivendi days. "I've been on both sides: the advisory and the entrepreneurial side. I know what you feel and what you ask yourself before you make a major strategic move. And I know how desperately you need...
...Messier got a lot of big-picture things right at Vivendi. Before its finances unraveled toward the end of 2001, the European powerhouse had staked out a strong base in the U.S. with assets such as Universal Studios and USA Network. The company's formidable media and telecom presence in Europe, meanwhile, allowed Messier to tantalize people with talk about how they'd soon be downloading music, sending photos and even watching video on mobile devices. Convergence of delivery and content, he promised, meant companies like his could offer it all. "Vivendi had the correct vision: the conversion of broadband...
True, but mobile phones didn't deliver the promised goodies-enabled technologies on schedule, and consumers refused to align their media purchases for Vivendi's benefit. Those are two reasons that Messier's successors at Vivendi have sold off many of its media units, while other convergence players, like Time Warner (owner of TIME), are considering disaggregation. "The emphasis now is being the best in the media activities you're focused on, not having all aspects of the sector covered," says a Vivendi official who asks not to be identified. Indeed, though Vivendi recently reacquired control of French telecom Cegetel...
...Messier sought to assemble the complete media group whose affiliates all do business with one another. Now, says the Vivendi exec, "we've reinforced our media activities in key areas and allow our affiliates to do business with whatever companies fill their needs best--whether inside or outside the group." Plug and play has supplanted media monolith. Still, Messier points to companies like News Corp. and Disney as examples of how big content providers continue to drive convergence...
...Messier remains marked by the hostility and humiliation that swirled around him in his rapid transformation from star to villain. With his career and fortune in ruins, he recalls, his main "reason for waking up every morning was knowing my children were waiting for me to give them some hope for the future because they couldn't see their dad destroyed...