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Article: Americanization of Messier: Vivendi Boss Loses Billions.(TheFrontPage)
- Article from:
- The New York Observer (New York, NY)
- Article date:
- March 11, 2002
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 The New York Observer. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Elisabeth Franck
Three things to take away from Vivendi Universal's March 5 press conference: The company posted a humongous $11.8 billion net loss for 2001; earnings were in line with the media giant's projections, and the people of France still consider Chief Executive Officer Jean-Marie Messier a cultural traitor.
The American media may have missed it, but the first question asked by a French reporter at the press conference concerned the fate of the French cultural exception.
Mr. Messier chose not to address the question, because the last time he did he caused a mess of trouble for himself.
That was at another press ...