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We have a little idea to suggest to Vincent Bolloré, or rather to his son Yannick, since his father has withdrawn from the business since he is facing legal troubles on his African activities. It is now Bolloré Jr. who chairs the supervisory board of Vivendi.
Yannick, it is imperative to change the name, created at the end of the twentieth century during the Jean-Marie Messier era to make modern, and return to the original name of the holding company, Havas, since in any case, this is what the Bolloré family is aiming for! We are dizzy while this group, which should have embodied innovation in the field of the digital economy, bring wealth, jobs, and, let's use the big words, "culture", is just going around in circles and to reproach the past in a senseless way
Havas and the future Agence France-Presse
So, for the youngest and those who lose their memory, let's recall the basics: at the beginning, Vivendi was called Havas. It was in the years 1960 to 1980, one of the armed arms of the Gaullist state, then pompidolian, Giscardian, Mitterrand, in the world of the media. And even more than that, since Charles Havas was also the inventor of the future Agency France-Presse, in the 19th century, which was called Havas agency, before being nationalized in 1940 by the Vichy regime, and embodied modern information. So these are the roots of Vivendi, its DNA can we say.
After the loss of this activity, the Havas group became the rival of Publicis in advertising, a trade that became fashionable in the 1960s. It was at home that worked Jacques Séguéla, the star of the eighties . Havas was also active in the field of publishing, with the Presses de la Cité (Plon, Julliard, Larousse, Bordas …), the professional press ("the New Economist," the New Factory "), the salons professionals, tourism (agencies Havas) .It was purring.The revolution occurs in the early 1980s, when André Rousselet gives the green light to a project of creation of private channel.Channel + will be an incredible success upsetting the balance of the group. The capitalist movements that will then shake, transforming Havas, are then prodigious.
Mergers in series
The mutation starts when Edouard Balladur, Prime Minister RPR, decides to privatize Havas, to put Cbad + safe from the socialists, and put the group in the orbit of the General des Eaux In 1998, the new and young CEO of the CGE, Jean-Marie Messier – the same who had privatized Havas as adviser to Balladur – merges the two warehouse Vivendi, which brings together activities as diverse as water – which will be sold under the name of Veolia -, TV, cinema, advertising and telephone (SFR).
In 2000, Jean- Marie Messier merges Vivendi with the American Universal: it is the birth of the Vivendi-Universal conglomerate, which dreams of making France a world power in this new entertainment industry, and to become the European champion of digital activities. He buys video games – Blizzard and Activision -, invests a lot … and ends up collapsing in the face of the group's difficulty in repaying his debts.
It's the end of the Messier era in 2002 , and the beginning of dismantling. A better managed Vivendi would have allowed Europe to have an alternative to Netflix and the Gafa, but instead, a field of ruins is being harvested. To repay the debts of the era Messier, all or almost will be sold: the edition, the advertising of Havas, SFR, Universal Studios cinemas, video games Activision become the world's number 1 in the sector! In the end, there remains in Vivendi only that which finds no buyer, because in poor health: Cbad +, already weakened, and Universal discs, victims of the collapse of the music market.
Eternal recommencement
Vincent Bolloré then arrives in the group, when Vivendi bought his small TV channels, Direct 8 and Direct Star: rather than cash, the businessman asks Vivendi shares. He will use this lever to take power. Bolloré had already got his hands on Havas, and took the opportunity to sell it to Vivendi and strengthen his power over the house. Little by little, he rebuilt the group on its three historical pillars: TV, music, and advertising. It only lacks the edition to rebuild the Havas of the 1980s: this is what he just announced, Monday, July 30, with the acquisition of Editis, for 900 million euros, knowing that it is an avatar of the old branch edition of Vivendi!
Everything is therefore an eternal recommencement. Vivendi becomes the Havas of the 1980s, music and more – except that Bolloré wants to sell 50% of Universal discs to bring cash into the house. Except that he forgot on the road all the dreams of grandeur then sold to investors: he wanted to develop Cbad + in Italy and Spain to create a great Latin Netflix? Caramba, still missed! The project is dead
Except that the new Vivendi no longer has any ambition in the digital world, where the future is played out. Vivendi, Bolloré version, it's back to the past. So, as much rename Havas, and meditate on the absurdity of the financial movements that destroyed the cultural ambitions of Cbad +, and that France has no more cards to play in the cultural and digital challenges of tomorrow … disaster, to summarize, but a disaster that has enriched banks and business lawyers by a succession of disposals, sales and purchases of the same entities over the years.
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