Word: messier
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...bringing an explosive end to his career as CEO of the Franco-American media giant Vivendi, Jean-Marie Messier managed a rare feat in the world of global business. He combined Gallic intransigence with Yankee arrogance to infuriate shareholders and employees on both sides of the Atlantic. The French hated him for selling out their culture, acting like a foreign mogul and moving to New York City. North Americans hated him for losing money and refusing to concede that his strategy had faltered. Even as the company's stock price descended to new lows, he spoke of running Vivendi...
...Messier was forced to resign when French board members joined the biggest North American shareholders--the Bronfman family, led by Vivendi vice chairman Edgar Bronfman Jr.--in concluding that French business honor (not to mention Bronfman billions) could be redeemed only by bringing on a new boss. Jean-Rene Fourtou, a well-respected pharmaceuticals-industry veteran, is now in charge...
...Vivendi, Messier created a complex media waterworks from what was once a simple French water utility, acquiring a hodgepodge of cross-border assets, from phone companies to film studios, that at some point were supposed to connect seamlessly and gush money. But he was late to the Big Media theory. Firms like Disney, AOL Time Warner, News Corp. and Viacom had already spent billions connecting content with distribution. To catch up, Messier became a serial acquirer, buying the Bronfmans' Seagram Co. and its Universal movie studio, theme parks and music group for $34 billion in stock. Last year...
...billion to cover debts and contingent liabilities this year. Though Vivendi reported revenues of $56 billion last year, it also recorded the largest corporate loss in French history--about $12 billion--caused mainly by writing down the value of assets. Vivendi's stock fell 85% from its peak before Messier was booted. Fourtou "is going to have to turn Vivendi into a smaller and, above all, clearer company," says Marc Touati, chief economist for Natexis-Banques Populaires in Paris. "That will involve straightening out the books so investors can see exactly where things stand." It might also mean setting Vivendi...
...telecom operators, who are all deep in debt, means that we're facing similar problems." To the well-known troubles of France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom, add the pains at tech giant Alcatel. Or the fiasco at media and utilities conglomerate Vivendi, which soon after booting Jean-Marie Messier was seen scrambling for emergency funding to service j19 billion in borrowings. Could this spell the end of what the Germans call the Aktienkultur, or equity culture? Just a few short years ago, traditionally risk-averse European savers were piling into stocks at a breathtaking pace, transforming not just household finances...