Vivendi Chairman Ousts Longtime Chief of Canal Plus
September 03 2015 - 9:10AM
Dow Jones News
PARIS—French billionaire and Vivendi SA chairman Vincent Bolloré
ousted the longtime chief of Canal Plus on Thursday, further
tightening his grip over the Vivendi-owned pay-TV group amid
falling subscriber numbers.
Vivendi said Thursday that Jean-Christophe Thiery, a long-term
lieutenant at Mr. Bolloré 's family holding company, will take the
top role at Canal Plus, replacing long-serving Chief Executive
Bertrand Meheut. Mr. Bolloré also named himself chairman of Canal
Plus.
The changes underscore the speed with which Mr. Bolloré is
exerting hands-on control of Vivendi's businesses since taking the
helm of the media conglomerate last year. He has expanded his stake
in the firm to nearly 15% and, unlike many chairmen, he has started
diving more deeply into the day-to-day operations of units that
once had more of a free hand.
Vivendi announced the changes in a statement in which it said
Mr. Bolloré would replace Vivendi CEO Arnaud de Puyfontaine as
chairman of Canal Plus. Mr. de Puyfontaine will continue in his
role at Vivendi.
Mr. Meheut, who joined the company in 2002, will remain as
special adviser to Mr. Bolloré "on the significant transformation"
that Vivendi wants to achieve with Canal Plus, the company
said.
For Vivendi, a once sprawling conglomerate that has slimmed down
dramatically in recent years, much is at stake in shaking up Canal
Plus.
The pay-TV unit is Vivendi's largest business, accounting for
more than half of its revenue and profit in the second quarter,
according to Vivendi earnings released on Wednesday.
Mr. Bolloré has made clear since summer that he wanted to shake
things up at the unit, where subscriber numbers in France have been
declining for two years. Vivendi wants to change the funds it
allocates to programs in an attempt to turn around the decline,
according to people familiar with the matter.
In July, Vivendi announced that Rodolphe Belmer, Canal Plus's
No. 2 executive, had been relieved of his duties. He was replaced
by Maxime Saada, formerly Mr. Belmer's right-hand man.
Mr. Thiery, the new Canal Plus chief, has worked on Mr. Bolloré
's media businesses for more than a decade. He is currently head of
the unit that runs the Direct Matin free daily newspaper as well
some of Mr. Bolloré 's telecom holdings.
Vivendi has been a source of intrigue in recent months as asset
sales have left the group with a roughly €9 billion ($10.1 billion)
war chest, leading analysts and investors to speculate about what
the company will do with the cash.
Write to Nick Kostov at Nick.Kostov@wsj.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 03, 2015 08:55 ET (12:55 GMT)
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