As Havas parent Vivendi puts a piece of its treasured Universal Music unit on the block, analysts are already speculating the cash could be used to fuel M&As to bolster its position in the advertising marketplace.
Vivendi (Paris:VIV) today announced the closing of the acquisition of 100% of the share capital of Editis, the second-largest French-language publishing group. The share purchase agreement with the vendor, Spanish group Planeta, was entered into on November 15, 2018, based on an enterprise value of €900 million. The French Competition Authority authorized the transaction unconditionally on January 2, 2019.
Arnaud de Puyfontaine, chief of the French media company, told delegates at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference that he had been working closely with Yannick Bolloré, head of Havas and son of Vivendi’s chairman and main shareholder Vincent Bolloré, and that he believed a tie-up made sense. “It is a fine line between the two operations,” he said
Silvio Berlusconi and Vincent Bollore, two of Europe’s most powerful media barons, have agreed a €1.75bn (£1.25bn) pact to create a European rival to Netflix and stronger continental opposition to Sky. The deal is expected to be approved this evening by the directors of Mr Berlusconi’s TV company Mediaset. It will see Mr Bollore’s French media giant Vivendi take full control of Mr Berlusconi’s Mediaset Premium. The loss-making pay-TV arm owns rights to top-flight Italian football and competes with Sky Italia
French media and content group Vivendi has returned to the world of video gaming, taking 6.6 per cent and 6.2 per cent in Paris-based Ubisoft and Gameloft respectively for a combined €160m. The move sent shares in Ubisoft up 11 per cent and Gameloft up 13 per cent on Thursday morning
Vivendi, the owner of Universal Music Group and Canal Plus, this week entered exclusive talks with Orange to acquire a majority stake in Dailymotion, the online video site. The deal will be the first of many, Mr de Puyfontaine (Vivendi CEO) tells the Financial Times in an interview amid visits to Vivendi’s US-based shareholders. For the full […]
The French media conglomerate Vivendi is looking at a possible skyacquisition of pay-TV group Sky, as one of several options to expand the reach of its own TV group Canal Plus
Vivendi has confirmed a bid for Orange-owned YouTube rival Dailymotion. The French media group, which owns Universal Music and Canal+, confirmed reports it was in talks to buy a majority stake in the video site, in a deal thought to be worth €250m (£182.6m) for a 75 to 80 per cent share.
French industrialist Vincent Bolloré has increased his stake in Vivendi, tightening his grip on the media and content group on the eve of a showdown with activist shareholders.
Vivendi’s Universal Music Group and advertising group Havas have joined forces in the hope of boosting revenue from artists via data mining at a time of falling record and digital sales
Sir Martin Sorrell has speculated two further major marketing network consolidations could be set to take place following the collapse of the Publicis-Omnicom deal
Sir Martin Sorrell has speculated two further major marketing network consolidations could be set to take place following the collapse of the Publicis-Omnicom deal
The Guardian has reported that Arnaud de Puyfontaine, the UK chief executive of Cosmopolitan publisher Hearst Magazines, is to join French media conglomerate Vivendi
