Vivendi: Landmarks

Table of contents

Landmarks

Landmarks

This chronology is indicative only. It covers -

Antecedents

1832 Charles-Louis Havas establishes foreign newspaper translation agency and bookshop

1835 Agence Havas news and advertising agency founded

1853 Compagnie Générale des Eaux (CGE) founded in Paris as civil engineering and utilities company

1853 CGE supplies water to Lyon

1854 CGE supplies water to Nantes

1860 CGE supplies water to Paris

1866 first volume of Larousse's Grand Dictionnaire Universel du XIXe Siecle published

1869 music publisher Durand founded as Durand-Schoenewek & Cie

1869 Joseph Seagram becomes partner in Waterloo distillery (founded 1857)

1879 Agence Havas becomes public company

1880 CGE supplies water to Venice

1882 CGE supplies water to Istanbul

1883 Seagram buys out partners in Waterloo operation, forms Joseph Seagram & Sons

1898 Deutsche Grammophon (DG) founded

1912 Universal Film Manufacturing Co formed in New York by Carl Laemmle, later becomes Universal Pictures

1920 merger of Agence Havas and Société Générale des Annonces advertising agency

1924 Bronfman family forms Distillers Corporation Limited in Canada

1924 Music Corporation of America (MCA) talent agency founded

1928 Distillers Corporation merges with Seagram

1929 Decca records founded in UK

1940 French legislation splits Agence Havas, with news service nationalised as Office Français d'Information (later Agence Française de Presse)

1946 Universal Pictures merges with independent production company International Pictures to become Universal International

1949 Seagram buys Chivas Bros in UK

1952 Universal International is sold to Decca Records

1952 Seagram buys Mumm and Perrier-Jouet champagne in France

MCA swallows Universal

1957 MCA buys Paramount's pre-1948 film library for US$50m

1958 MCA buys Universal's 750 acre back lot for US$11m

1960 Dutch electronics group Philips buys Mercury records

1962 Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss form A&M Records

1962 Decca sells Universal to MCA

1963 Seagram buys Texas Pacific Coal & Oil

1972 Philips and Siemens merge recording interests as Polygram, buy Verve records

1972 CGE constructs la Défense office complex in Paris

1975 Spielberg's Jaws marks Universal's revival as major distributor

1978 Seagram buys Glenlivet and wine and spirits division of Dalgety Australia

1980 Polygram buys Decca

1980 CGE buys Compagnie Generale de Chauffe, becomes largest private energy group in France

Early Seagram diversification

1980 Seagram buys 32% stake in Conoco oil group

1980 Seagram gains 24% stake in Du Pont by selling Conoco

1983 CGE and Havas media group establish Canal+ pay television group (CGE has 15% stake)

1985 Seagram buys Continental Distillers of Australia

1985 MCA buys Chess records

1987 Siemens sells Polygram stake to Philips

1987 Durand buys Amphion and Eschig catalogues

1987 French government sells stake in Havas

1987 CGE establishes telephone subsidiary

1988 Seagram buys Martell cognac in France and Tropicana fruit juice group in US

1988 CGE buys global construction group Société Générale d'Enterprises

1989 Polygram buys A&M Records from Alpert & Moss for US$500m

Matsushita swallows MCA

1990 Sony rival Matsushita buys MCA for US$6.1bn

1990 MCA buys Geffen records

1992 CGE sells hospital and healthcare operations for US$1.8bn

1992 Canal+ establishes CanalSatellite

1993 Polygram buys Motown records

1994 CGE awarded BOOT contract for Illawarra and Woronora water plants in Australia

Seagram moves into media

1994 Seagram buys 14.5% stake in Time Warner

1995 Seagram sells Du Pont stake, buys MCA from Matsushita for US$5.7bn and renames it Universal Studios

1995 Seagram buys Dole global fruit juice group

1996 Seagram sells Putnam Berkley book publishing group to Pearson for US$300m

1996 US Telecommunications Act results in billions of dollars of broadcast properties changing hands

1996 CGE subsidiary Cegetel becomes second largest telecommunications operator in France

1996 CGE subsidiary United Water becomes responsible for water and wastewater in Adelaide

1996 Pathé floated on Paris Bourse

1996 Havas corporate and leisure travel arm Havas Voyages SA forms joint venture with American Express

1997 CGE buys Linjebuss, second largest public transportation company in Scandinavia and 47.5% of New Zealand's United Water

1997 Seagram buys remaining 50% of USA network from Viacom for US$1.7bn

1997 CGE buys 30% of Havas

1997 buys NetHold, second largest pay-TV operator in Continental Europe, including stake controlled by Naspers and Richemont

Vivendi established

1998 CGE group renamed Vivendi, buys rest of Havas

1998 Vivendi buys Cendant Software

1998 buys Anaya (second largest education and multimedia publisher in Spain)

1998 American Express buys Havas Voyages SA (leisure activity later sold to Thomas Cook)

1998 Seagram buys Polygram from Matsushita rival Philips for US$10.4bn

1998 Vivendi sells 6.5% stake in Telewest for £200m

1999 Seagram sells Mumm, Perrier-Jouët and Tropicana for US$4bn

1999 Foster's buys Seagram Australia

1999 Vivendi sells Havas' outdoor advertising operations to J C Decaux of France for £652m

1999 Vivendi buys 30% of Polish telco Elektrim Telekomunikacja

1999 absorbs US Filter

1999 buys 15% of Canal+ from Compagnie Financiere Richemont

1999 Vivendi and Canal+ buy 20% of Pathé

1999 sells property and construction divisions

1999 sells 18% stake in Audiofina

1999 Seagram sells Mumm & Cie and Champagne Perrier-Jouët to HMTF for €293.5m

Vivendi buys Seagram

2000 Vivendi buys Seagram for US$34bn, becomes Vivendi Universal

2000 Vivendi takes 35% stake in Moroccan telco Maroc Telecom

2000 Vivendi Environnement listed on Paris Bourse (Vivendi retains 63% stake)

2000 Vivendi and Vodafone announce joint venture for a European internet portal - Vizzavi

2000 Vivendi sells spirits and wines business to Diageo and Pernod Ricard for US$8.1bn. Partial sale of civil engineering and construction operations

2000 sells Editions Durand, Eschig and Amphion to Bertelsmann's BMG

2000 Vivendi buys rest of Pathé for US$2.59bn, then sells name and most assets back to Seydoux

2001 Vivendi buys US publisher Houghton Mifflin for US$1.7bn

2001 sells Canal Digital satellite operation to Norwegian telco Telenor for US$256m

2001 Vivendi buys MP3.com for US$372m

2001 sells its 9.9% stake in Havas Advertising for €453m

2001 sells Eurosport stake

2001 sells stake in France Loisirs to Bertelsmann for €153m

2001 pays €491m for increased stake in Elektrim Telekomunikacja

2001 agrees to buy entertainment assets of Barry Diller's USA Networks for US$10.3bn (including Liberty's 20% of USA Networks and 27% stake in Multithematiques tv group for 3.6% of Vivendi)

2001 Vivendi Environnement awarded $150m Sydney Water Illawarra Wastewater Strategy

2002 Vivendi Environnement agrees to buy Southern Water in UK for US$3.1bn

Downsizing

2002 Vivendi sells healthcare and business publishing units for €1.2bn

2002 reduces stake in Vivendi Environnement to 40.8%

2002 sells Groupe Express-Expansion (inc l'Express) and Groupe l'Etudiant to Hersant's Socpresse for €200m

2002 pays US$55m for further 16% of UGC

2002 sells Elektrim Telekomunikacja stake

2002 sells its 50% share of Vizzavi for €142m

2002 sells 89% stake in Canal+ Technologies to Thomson Multimedia for €190m

2002 sells Houghton Mifflin to Thomas H Lee, Blackstone and Bain consortium for US$1.66bn

2002 agrees to sell EU and Latin American publishing units to Hachette for US$1.2bn

2002 sells 20.4% of Vivendi Environnement for €1.856bn

2002 increases stake in Cegetel by 26% for £2.5bn

2003 sells Comareg to Hersant's France Antilles group for €135m

2003 buys additional 26% of Cegetel (from BT) for €4bn

2003 sells Telepiu stake

2003 sells Canal+ Television AB (Nordic cable tv operations)

2003 sells Spencer Gifts knick-knack chain for US$100m

2003 sells Vivendi Hungary Telecom for €325m

2003 sells EchoStar stake for US$1.06bn

2003 Vivendi Environnement becomes Veolia Environnement

2003 Vivendi combines US film studios, theme parks and cable tv channels with NBC as NBC Universal (80% owned by GE)

2003 MP3.com sold to CNET

2003 Edgar Bronfman Jr leads Warner Music consortium that buys Time Warner's music arm

2004 Vivendi sells stake in Kencell for US$230m

2004 sells stake in Maroc Telecom for €169m

2004 sells 15% of Veolia for €1.5bn

2005 buys Radical Entertainment

2005 Cegetel and neuf telecom merge fixed line and internet operations as Neuf Cegetel

2005 NBC Universal pays US$3.4bn for IAC/InteractiveCorp's 5.4% stake in Vivendi Universal Entertainment

2005 Vivendi agrees to merge Canal Plus with TPS, France's other pay-TV operator, creating a company valued at €7.5bn

2006 Vivendi Universal agrees to pay Matsushita Electric Industrial US$1.15bn to gain full ownership of Universal Music Group

2006 Lagardere agrees to buy 20% of Vivendi's French pay-TV business Canal Plus in exchange for its 34% stake in CanalSatellite and €525m

2006 Vivendi sells remaining 5.3% stake in Veolia Environnement for US$1.1bn

2006 Vivendi's Universal Music agrees to buy BMG Music Publishing for €1.63bn

2007 Universal Music agrees to buy Sanctuary (est 1977) for £44.5m