Abstract

The case explains the turnaround achieved by the French media and telecommunications company, Vivendi Universal (VU). It explains how the company became nearly bankrupt, mainly on account of the many acquisitions made during the years 2000 and 2001 by its CEO Jean Marie Messier (Messier). The case attempts to explain how Jean-René Fourtou (Fourtou) who succeeded Messier as VU's CEO reduced VU's financial debt and brought the company back to investment grade. It explains the measures Fourtou took, such as the asset disposal programme, to achieve this objective. The case shows how Fourtou refocused the company as a 'media and telecommunications company' so as to take advantage of new opportunities in the digitized entertainment sector.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Importance of restructuring in the turnaround of companies
• Impact of a failed strategy on the financial health of a global company
• Strategies to turnaround a media conglomerate.

Keywords

Vivendi Universal, Jean Marie Messier, Jean-René Fourtou, Universal Music Group, Vivendi Universal Games, Canal Plus Group, NBC Universal, Groupe SFR-Cegetel, Maroc Telecom, Cegetel, Seagram, AOL-Time Warner, Vodafone Group, Vivendi Environnement, Asset disposal programme, Conglomerate, Veolia Environnement, Universal Pictures