Vincent Bolloré Moves to Further Strengthen Grip at Vivendi
May 11 2016 - 2:29PM
Dow Jones News
By Nick Kostov
PARIS -- Vincent Bolloré, chairman and largest shareholder of
Vivendi SA, moved to tighten his grip on the European media group
on Wednesday by nominating his son, Yannick, to its board.
Vivendi said Yannick Bolloré, one of Mr. Bolloré's four
children, would replace outgoing board member Philippe Donnet, with
his nomination to be submitted to Vivendi's next shareholder
meeting for ratification, the company said in a news release
Wednesday.
Yannick, who will remain chief executive of Havas SA, a French
advertising group majority-owned by Bolloré's family holding
company, has been credited by analysts with helping Havas to post
sales growth above the industry average in recent years, boosted by
a drive to make its creative, public relations and media planning
arms work more closely together.
The move further solidifies the influence of Mr. Bolloré at
Vivendi after he took less than two years to effectively take
control of the company following his purchase of a small stake in
2012. He now owns a 14.5% stake in Vivendi.
Mr. Bolloré is known as one of France's savviest but most
unpredictable businessmen and has pledged to foster closer
cooperation between Vivendi's units to create an industrial
integrated content group with a focus on Southern Europe.
In recent months, he has shaken up its French pay-TV unit Canal
Plus and put a multibillion-dollar cash chest to work, buying large
stakes in Telecom Italia SpA and two French videogame companies,
Ubisoft SA and Gameloft SE.
Yannick Bolloré's appointment came as Vivendi's reported
declining first-quarter profit as its pay-TV unit Canal Plus
continued to lose money in its home market of France.
Vivendi said its adjusted earnings dropped 27.3% to EUR99
million ($87 million) due also to an unfavorable tax impact linked
to a one-off payment made to Liberty Global to settle a dispute
over a 2001 transaction.
First-quarter revenue fell 1.4% to EUR2.4 billion on a
like-for-like basis, while earnings before interest, taxes and
amortization fell 2.5% to EUR213 million, with a rise in core
earnings at Canal Plus failing to offset a 4% drop at Universal
Music Group.
Write to Nick Kostov at Nick.Kostov@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 11, 2016 14:14 ET (18:14 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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