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Vivendi
Paris-based
sewers-to-skyscrapers conglomerate Vivendi
is in the process of absorbing Seagram, the US-Canadian
beverages giant that had previously swallowed the
Universal entertainment conglomerate (books, theme parks,
film, multimedia ...) and Polygram music empire.
Once the dance of the anacondas has been consummated
Vivendi plans to shed non-media assets such as power
stations, water treatment plants, soft drink bottlers,
distilleries and wineries.
The new media group will extend over four continents, with
holdings in film and tv production, broadcasting, print
publishing, retailing, theme parks, mobile phones, music
and online services. It will be valued at around
US$34 billion, with revenues of US$55 billion.
the French
Connection
Founded in Paris in 1853, Compagnie Générale des
Eaux (CGE) began by supplying water to Paris, Lyons,
Venice and Constantinople: hype about globalization to the
contrary, multinational companies have been round for a
long time.
By the late 1990s CGE was operating in over 90
countries with a workforce of 235,000 people. Its
portfolio covered waste management, transport, energy,
construction, property development and management, and
communications. In 1983 it joined with the Havas media
group, also dating from the middle of the previous
century, in establishing the Canal+ pay television group.
CGE subsequently became Havas' major shareholder. In the
early 1990s it established a mobile phone network in
France, built joint ventures with partners such as
Vodafone and bought rail and road services in Germany and
Scandinavia.
Seagram
In 1998
the group was renamed Vivendi. A year later it gobbled up
information services giant Cendant
Software, along with. In 2000 it announced its agreed
takeover of Seagram,
the US beverages giant controlled by Canada's Bronfman
family. The deal's worth approximately US$34 billion; with
combined revenues of US$55 billion.
Seagram
had earlier engulfed Universal
(parks, tv & film production and distribution, cable
tv, book and music publishing) - sold by Japan's
Matsushita - and in 1998 acquired the EU Polygram
music recording empire, formerly controlled by the Philips
electronics conglomerate, the EU's unsuccessful answer to
Sony.
The new
group, to be named Vivendi Universal, will be
headquartered in Paris with a token presence in New York. C'est
la vie. It will include the world’s largest music
company, second largest film library, major film
production studio, second largest theme park company,
major book publishing interests and strategic investments
in groups such as UK broadcaster BSkyB and USA Networks.
Vivendi hopes that its Vizzavi subsidiary will be the default portal for 80
million mobile and interactive TV subscribers of Canal+
and Vivendi’s 50-50 joint venture with Vodafone.
Studies
[Under
Development]
There are no English-language studies of Vivendi and
little on CGE. In contrast there's a range of material on
the Bronfman's, Seagram and parts of the empire.
Good Spirits: The Making of A Businessman (New York,
Putnam 98) is a memoir by Seagram boss Edgar Bronfman,
following up his The Making of A Jew (New York,
Putnam 96). He was profiled in Ken Auletta's The
Highwaymen - Warriors of the Information Superhighway
(New York, Random House 97).
The family has been controversial, with for example
allegations that Seagram was driven by rum-running across
the Canadian border during Prohibition. Samuel Bronfman:
The Life & Times of Seagram's Mr Sam (New York,
Brandeis Uni Press 92) by noted Holocaust historian
Michael Marrus has considerably bite. Canadian business
historian Peter Newman provided a more upbeat and
panoramic account of the family in Bronfman Dynasty:
Rothschilds of the New World (New York, Atheneum 79).
Susan Gittins' Behind Closed Doors: The Rise & Fall
of Canada's Edper, Bronfman & Reichman Empires
(Toronto, Prentice-Hall Canada 95).
Bruce Wasserstein's Big Deal (New York, Warner 98)
is a useful introduction to the business of assembling and
disassembling the US media empires.
Universal - home of Frankenstein - was acquired by
talent agency MCA which then sold itself to Japanese
consumer electronics giant Matsushita. Dennis McDougal's The
Last Mogul: Lew Wasserman, MCA & the Hidden History of
Hollywood (New York, Random 98) is a warts and all
account. There's a similar view in Dan Moldea's Dark
Victory: Ronald Reagan, MCA & The Mob (New York,
Viking 98) and William Knoedelseder's Stiffed: A True
Story of MCA, the Music Business & the Mafia (New
York, Harper 94). MCA's competitors William Morris and CAA
were profiled in Frank Rose's The Agency: William
Morris & The Hidden History of Show Business (New
York, Harper 96), Power To Burn: Michael Ovitz &
The New Business of Show Business (New York, Birch
Lane 96) by Stephen Singular - more warts - and Ovitz:
The Inside Story of Hollywood's Most Controversial Power
Broker (New York, McGraw-Hill 97) by Robert Slater.
Philip Dick's City of Dreams: The Making & Remaking
of Universal Pictures (Uni Press of Kentucky 97) is
more substantial than Clive Hirschhorn's The Universal
Story: The Complete History of the Studio (New York,
Crown 83).
holdings
The following page
provides an inventory of Vivendi's media holdings.
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