Vivendi Universal - Big company!

[mtkafka]

Sorta OT, but anyway..

I was at a Bachelor Party over the weekend (boobies yeah yeah whatever), and a guy I was talking to was in waste management and said he was working for Vivendi corporation. I didnt thnk at the time it was the same company that publishes games. But then I checked it on the net and it IS the same company. Wow big company. Sorta like British Petroleum buying up US oil companies, the French are buying alot of the waste management around Chicago, aint that weird? Those Euros are buying us! Bastards!

etc

[Ben Sones]

Yeah, globalism goes both ways. Eventually, the French end up with everything.

[Rob de los Reyes]

Vivendi began its life as a water and sewage utility company. Its media ventures are actually quite recent, and not everyone is pleased about them. Vivendi's boss, Jean-Marie Messier, is in hot water right now for collecting a multimillion dollar "bonus" in a year in which Vivendi lost multiple millions of dollars. His push into the sexier media market (and other acquisitions, like Seagram's) has left the company with a pretty hefty debt burden. He also pisses off his French countrymen by living in New York. He took even more crap for saying that there really was no "French exception" in cultural matters. I don't know how good his tenure will prove to have been when his reign ends, but he's pretty entertaining to follow.

[Desslock]

>guy I was talking to was in waste management and said he was working for Vivendi corporation

"Waste management". "boobies" -- You do know that Vivendi is owned by Tony Soprano, don't you?

[copeknight]

Must stop self from comparing sewage to Sierra...must stop self....

[GMicek]

>guy I was talking to was in waste management and said he was working for Vivendi corporation

"Waste management". "boobies" -- You do know that Vivendi is owned by Tony Soprano, don't you?

It's only a matter of time before there's a developer called 'Badda Bing."

[Menzo]

Just you wait until we start really synergizing with the waste management/water treatment groups! The Culligan Water game we've been brainstorming is going to turn the industry on its head. Yes, we own Culligan Water.

Seriously, it's a huge company, but we just ignore most of it. The benefits of being associated with Universal Music, Universal Studios, and the theme parks are HUGE. The French ain't that bad...

[Pie4Foo]

The French ain't that bad...

Pardon my pointless drivel:

Say...I know an Adam at Sierra...

[nife2o4]

It looks like Jean-Marie Messier's reign is about to end.

Vivendi is the latest company to be accused of a $1.5 billion dollar accounting "error". And Arthur Andersen might have been the auditor at the time of the "error".

http://europe.cnn.com/2002/BUSINESS/07/02/vivendi.stock/index.html

[Mark Asher]

The article ends with the supposition that Vivendi will sell assets to cut its debt. I wonder if they'll sell any game companies?