Vivendi is proposing to break up Bollore’s media empire into four

Vivendi said the proposal still needs signing off from lenders, employee groups and regulators. — Bloomberg

PARIS: French billionaire Vincent Bollore’s Vivendi SE is now formally proposing to break up the sprawling media and entertainment empire into four separately traded companies.

Under a plan cleared by the company’s board, Vivendi would be split into film and TV studio Canal+, communications firm Havas, an investment business, and an entity holding the company’s majority stake in Lagardere, the publishing group that also has travel retail operations, as well as Prisma Media, according to a statement issued Tuesday.

The Paris-based conglomerate, with a market value of about €10.6bil (US$11.5bil) first signalled a potential breakup last month and said its stock price had suffered since the listing of its most valuable business, Universal Music Group, in 2021.

The strategy represents a reversal for Bollore, who had previously sought to bring his seemingly disparate collection of media assets closer together.

The company had worked to turn brands such as Paddington Bear into films, books and marketing campaigns in a bid to form a European empire capable of taking on Netflix Inc and Walt Disney Co.

The plan outlined on Tuesday differs slightly from the proposal initially considered, which would’ve split the company into three.

Vivendi said in the statement that the proposal still needs signing off from lenders, employee groups and regulators. The company said it would provide an update on the plan to the company’s supervisory board during a meeting on March 7.

Vivendi’s shares have gained 15% since the company first said it was considering a split, closing at €10.29 on Tuesday.

Pay-TV group Canal+ is the company’s largest unit, accounting for more than half of sales and earnings.

In 2022, it generated about €5.9bil in revenue and €515mil in earnings before interest, tax depreciation and amortisation.

Havas came in second, accounting for more than a quarter of the firm’s revenue.

Oddo analyst Jerome Bodin estimated last month that a split could translate into valuations of about €6.1bil for Canal+ and about €3bil for Havas.

The investment structure holding the Lagardere stake could fetch a value of about €4.9bil, he said.

Investors had been watching to see whether Bollore, Vivendi’s controlling shareholder, would try to raise his stake in the company to win greater control over the media business and take it in new directions.

If the split goes through, Bollore has a war chest to pursue further operations as a controlling shareholder of various media groups after the family’s investment vehicle, Bollore SE, divested its transport and logistics business.

Known as a ruthless corporate raider, Bollore has worked to internationalise his media group over the past decade.

Since taking control of Canal+ about eight years ago, Bollore has made the once-struggling unit a Netflix-like platform by acquiring rivals in Europe, Africa and Asia.

Still, a split of Bollore’s empire could call into question the family’s succession planning as the 71-year-old officially steps back from some of his businesses.

Cyrille Bollore, 38, currently leads Bollore SE, while his older son, Yannick Bollore, 43, is the chairman of Vivendi. — Bloomberg