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.