ABSTRACT
Vivendi is an industrial group active in the recorded music industry with Universal Music Group (UMG) and pay television through its subsidiary, Groupe Canal+ (GC+). Vivendi became a conglomerate of cultural industries and telecommunications that was positioned in various continents but with no synergies between these components. In fact, these acquisitions, justified in the name of convergence and digitalization, had mainly financial goals, even if most of them were badly negotiated. In the most recent years of Vivendi's history, the role of financialization has played a very important role in major strategic decisions. Of course, digitalization is a major issue for Vivendi, but the industrial choices are first conditioned to financial opportunities or financial impossibilities, including the ability to raise funds and the need to satisfy shareholders by distributing dividends. Thus, almost immediately after buying substantial assets in broadcasting in the United States, Vivendi gradually sold most of its assets.
