ABSTRACT
Jean-Marie Messier, the ex CEO of Vivendi Universal, was one of France’s most colourful and controversial leaders. The French considered him not French enough (convinced of this not just by his flamboyance and brashness but also by his decision to move to New York into a €20 million apartment paid for by Vivendi); his American business partners saw him as not American enough (in his lack of transparency and openness about underlying performance of the company).
