By Inti Landauro
PARIS-- Vivendi SA has confirmed that it wants to buy the much
coveted video-streaming website Dailymotion currently owned by
French telecommunications operator Orange SA.
Vivendi, the restructured media group with interests in
pay-television and music, gave no detail of the terms of its offer
for Dailymotion in a statement on Tuesday which confirmed reports
Monday. A Vivendi spokesman declined to provide additional
information.
Vivendi's offer follows pressure from the French government for
a national company to weigh to bid for Dailymotion so that the
smallish rival of Google's Youtube.com stays in French hands after
Orange last month opened talks with a Hong Kong-based investor.
A person familiar with the matter said Monday Vivendi had
offered 250 million euros ($273 million). The owner of French pay
TV group Canal Plus and Universal Music Group wants to develop
Dailymotion globally in cooperation with similar services it
already controls or has stakes in, such as German movie and
television streaming website Watchever or Vevo, according to the
person.
Vivendi's offer comes as the French government for the second
time in two years scared a foreign company away from buying a stake
in Dailymotion, echoing an incident that has cast a shadow over
French startups' efforts to woo foreign investors. Two years ago
Yahoo! approached Orange to buy a controlling stake in Dailymotion
but was eventually rebutted after French government's
opposition.
The French government owns a minority stake in Orange.
Hong Kong-based telecommunication company PCCW Ltd. pulled out
of talks with Orange to purchase a stake in Dailymotion, after the
French government publicly urged Orange to look for European buyers
for the site.
No officials at Orange were immediately available for
comment.
-Write to Inti Landauro at inti.Landauro@wsj.com
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