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The rise and fall of Messier
LONDON, England (CNN) -- Jean-Marie Messier managed to turn an unglamorous water utility, the Compagnie Generale des Eaux, into Vivendi Universal -- the world's second largest media company. So why all the fuss about Monsieur Messier? He was seen as a charismatic leader, an American-style "personality" CEO. But his bravado riled many French, while massive losses at his company failed to please investors. Messier was ousted in July after saddling Vivendi with debt of 19 billion euro following a two-year buying spree in Europe and North America. The company was under investigation by French regulators over its financial accounts, and the U.S. Attorney's office and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission had both launched inquiries into the company. Vivendi Universal's share price has halved this year and the company posted a loss of more than $12 billion -- the largest single loss in French corporate history. The board replaced Messier with Jean-Rene Fourtou. But what really concerned those in his homeland was Messier's American management style. He now lives and works in New York, and it's his relentless powerbroking across the Atlantic that lead many to think he was distancing himself from the French cultural roots of Vivendi Universal and its pay-TV arm, Canal Plus. The French are proud of the channel, even though it's made a loss for the last five years. The channel is seen to epitomise French culture -- something the French are reluctant to put a price on. Canal Plus not only brings football, films and music into French homes, it spends vast sums subsidising home-grown movies. As part of the French "cultural exception," which enables France -- along with other European countries -- to protect its creative industries from U.S. competition, Canal Plus legally must spend a portion of its turnover on French productions. Last year, Canal Plus drained nearly $450 million from Vivendi Universal's cash flow, and Messier had long felt that Canal Plus's obligations to support the "cultural exception" go too far in the context of a global market. Then, in April, Messier fired Canal Plus chief Pierre Lescure, a move that caused outrage among French politicians and filmmakers. Messier's comment that "the French cultural exception is dead" caused more of the same and likely marked the start of his demise.
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