Vivendi Holder May Urge Unwinding of Media Titan

VIVENDI HOLDER MAY URGE UNWINDING OF MEDIA TITAN
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: ]
Sebastian Holdings Inc. has bought 2.5% of Vivendi Universal ($1.1 billion) and intends to push management to unwind the strategy that created the European media giant. Sebastian Holdings, which recently helped shareholders push in management changes at French advertising company Havas SA, intends to argue that Vivendi needs a clearer strategy and should either concentrate on creating media content or on distributing information. That position is at odds with the vision that turned Vivendi into a media conglomerate. Vivendi's former chief executive, Jean-Marie Messier, built up and joined together an entertainment business, including television shows, movies and music, and the means to deliver it to customers, including pay-TV and cellphone operations. One option being considered by Sebastian Holdings is to push for the sale of Vivendi's stakes in French phone company SFR and Morocco's Maroc Telecom. Another option is to press for the sale of the company's 20% stake in NBC Universal, the parent of the NBC television network. General Electric Co. owns the rest of the U.S. media giant.
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