Vivendi chief survives stormy meeting

Jean-Marie Messier: Clear priorities

Flamboyant Vivendi Universal boss Jean-Marie Messier has, at an angry shareholders' meeting, blamed poor publicity skills for much of the firm's ills.

Heckled by rebel investors, disaffected with Vivendi's transformation from a utility into a media giant, Mr Messier said the firm's performance had been misunderstood.

"We have shown strong internal growth and higher margins but our results have not always been judged fairly because there is no comparison with the past," Mr Messier said.

"We are in part responsible for this situation and must do more to explain our strategy, which is to be the world's number one global media group."

Heckled

Mr Messier. booed and jeered during the speech, admitted that he himself may have appeared unfocused in interviews.

"I got the message, and I'm fixing it," he told 5,000 shareholders at the meeting, in a Paris rock stadium.

But some shareholders remained unconvinced of Mr Messier's value to Vivendi, urging him to resign.

"Pack your suitcase," some cried, while other wore t-shirts saying "Messier mega liar".

Other protesters, watched by riot police, gathered outside the stadium, some campaigning against globalisation, and others against Mr Messier's sacking of Canal Plus boss Pierre Lescure.

But a motion backing Mr Lescure's removal was passed by the meeting.

Shareholders rejected a controversial stock option plan for managers.

Rise and fall

Mr Messier has driven the transformation of Vivendi from a water firm to a media giant owning assets including Universal Studios.

But while the revamp, which culminated in the 2000 mega-merger with Canada's Seagram and French pay-TV group Canal Plus, once gave him a lauded position among corporate leaders, this reputation has been soured by a subsequent slide in the firm's fortunes.

Shares in the firm, which last month reported France's worst ever corporate annual loss, have slid by 70% in the past two years.

Shareholders have increasingly questioned Mr Messier's role as both chairman and chief executive of Vivendi.

"Messier will stay on for the remainder of the year," said Mark Harrington, an analyst at JP Morgan.

"However, the board may want him to give up the chairman role at some point."

Turnaround?

But pressure on Mr Messier eased earlier on Wednesday when the firm revealed underlying earnings of $1.17bn for the first three months of the year, a figure 16% higher than a year before, and ahead of analysts' expectations

He also pledged an end to the firm's acquisition drive.

"Vivendi Universal's 2002 priorities are clear," Mr Messier said in the results statement, adding that the firm would also focus on reducing debt and controlling costs.