Vivendi SA (formerly known as Vivendi Universal) is a French conglomerate active in media and communications with activities in music, television and film, publishing, telecommunications and the Internet.

The company disclosed a corporate loss of €23.3 billion in its 2002 annual report, the worst loss to date for a French company. Amid intense media scrutiny, its flamboyant Chairman and CEO, Jean-Marie Messier (who had overseen the most dramatic phase of the company's diversification), was subsequently replaced by Jean-René Fourtou.

Messier's rapid expansion of the firm, during which he overpaid hugely for media assets, saddling the company with debt far in excess of its market valuation and ultimately bringing it to the brink of collapse, has become a study in the triumph of personal ambition and greed over common sense.

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NYT > Television

As Election Nears, a Black Voice Enters Comedy Fray
Wed, 15 Oct 2008 04:17:17 -0000
Comedy Central’s “Chocolate News,” starring David Alan Grier, borrows the fake-news template from “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart” but uses it to fill a void of politically charged black-oriented comedy.
The TV Watch: For Times Like These, Pep Talks and Hugs
Wed, 15 Oct 2008 05:52:56 -0000
In the hours and days since the stock market crashed, then fluttered back to life, television has spun an uplifting riches to rags narrative out of a shattered and murky economic picture.
A Pop-Culture Show Looks for Attitude With Heart
Wed, 15 Oct 2008 04:20:21 -0000
VH1 is reworking “Best Week Ever,” its pop-culture wrap-up show, by doing away with multiple talking heads in favor of a single host.

L.A. Times - Movie News

Nothing ridiculous about 'Religulous' grosses
Tue, 14 Oct 2008 18:34:13 -0700
The Bill Maher and Larry Charles film will soon be this year's highest-grossing docu.
Hollywood Fest salutes Hoffman, Brolin and Thomas
Tue, 14 Oct 2008 16:11:49 -0700
The film event is honoring Dustin Hoffman with a lifetime achievement award.
Marianna Palka and Jason Ritter's Sundance film
Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700
A trip to the video store resulted in the pair's story of budding love between a video store clerk and a lonely woman. She was somewhere near the Bergman section, or maybe it was in the Cs.

Billboard News - All

Madonna, Guy Ritchie To Divorce
Madonna's spokeswoman says the singer and her husband, filmmaker Guy Ritchie, will divorce after seven-and-a-half years together.
T.I. Begins Second Week Atop Billboard 200
Despite a 69% drop-off in sales, T.I. starts a second week at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 with "Paper Trail." The Grand Hustle/Atlantic set sold 177,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan, after debuting last week with 568,000.
Spears Scores Record-Setting Hot 100 Jump
Another week, another record-breaking jump to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Britney Spears makes a near-maximum 96-1 rise with "Womanizer," returning to the top of the list for the first time since her debut single "...Baby One More Time" hit No. 1 in January 1999.

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