French billionaire Vincent Bolloré’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 on Tuesday, 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.
The Paris-based conglomerate with a market value of about €10.6 billion ($11.5 billion) first signaled a potential breakup last month, saying its stock price had suffered since the listing of its most valuable business, Universal Music Group, in 2021.
The strategy represents a reversal for Bolloré who had previously sought to bring his seemingly disparate collection of media assets closer together. The company had worked to turn brands such as Paddington Bear into films, books and marketing campaigns in a bid to form a European empire capable of taking on Netflix Inc. and Walt Disney Co. The plan outlined Tuesday differs slightly from the proposal initially considered, which would’ve split the company into three.
Vivendi said in the statement Tuesday that the proposal still needs signoff from lenders, employee groups and regulators. The company said it would provide an update of the plan to the company’s supervisory board during a meeting on March 7.
Vivendi’s shares have gained 15% since the company first said it was considering a split, closing at €10.29 on Tuesday.
Pay-TV group Canal+ is the company’s largest unit, accounting for more than half of sales and earnings. In 2022, it generated about €5.9 billion of revenue and €515 million in earnings before interest, taxes depreciation and amortization. Havas came second, accounting for more than a quarter of the company’s revenue.
Oddo analyst Jerome Bodin estimated last month that a split could translate into valuations of about €6.1 billion for Canal+ and about €3 billion for Havas. The investment structure holding the Lagardère stake could fetch a value of about €4.9 billion, he said.
Investors had been watching to see whether Bolloré — Vivendi’s controlling shareholder — would try to raise his stake in the company to win greater control over the media business and take it in new directions. If the split goes through, Bolloré has a war chest to pursue further operations as a controlling shareholder of various media groups after the family’s investment vehicle, Bollore SE divested its transport and logistics business.
Known as a ruthless corporate raider, Bolloré worked to internationalize his media group over the past decade. Since taking control of Canal+ about eight years ago, Bolloré has made the once-struggling unit a Netflix-like platform by acquiring rivals in Europe, Africa and Asia.
Still, a split of Bolloré’s empire could call into question the family’s succession planning as the 71-year-old officially steps back from some of his businesses. Cyrille Bolloré, 38, currently leads Bollore SE, while his older son, Yannick Bolloré, 43, is the chairman of Vivendi.