Word: messier
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
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...
Time and work--and a little help from business friends--have supported a comeback. Messier occasionally meets French President Nicolas Sarkozy--a man he's known for 20 years and who "was one politician who never canceled any appointments" after the fall. Not surprisingly, he supports Sarkozy's dynamic entrepreneurial efforts to reform French society--a kind of cultural revolution Messier attempted within French business circles at Vivendi...
...Messier is optimistic that his friend will succeed where previous French leaders failed, but he isn't ready to shift Messier Partners' HQ from New York City to Paris just yet. "The U.S. is the country of the second chance--where there isn't so much jealousy, and if you've had problems that you try to rebound from, everyone will applaud and will try to help," Messier explains...