Dailymotion is likely to remain French, or at least owned by a multinational based in Paris. Orange Board must consider Tuesday a lightning bid from Vivendi, for its online video platform that tries to compete with the US giant YouTube. According to the World the media group controlled by Vincent Bolloré has made an offer of € 250 million to provide the entire share capital of Dailymotion, hitherto held by Orange. Information confirmed to release by several sources familiar with the matter, although Vivendi and Orange officially made no comment Monday. “It’s not done yet, but the acquisition of Dailymotion give a boost to the Bolloré’s strategy to create a real group of media in the digital era around Canal + and Universal Music” estimated Monday near the Breton billionaire.
Interference. With a sense of timing, Vivendi released his checkbook at Even as the Hong Kong PCCW, bidding to acquire 49% of Dailymotion, threw in the towel before the open hostility of the French authorities in this operation. “The expressed will of the French government to encourage the search for a European solution discourages participation of international companies. We decided to end our discussions with Dailymotion and its current owners, “ dropped, annoyed the telecoms billionaire Richard Li group. A direct reference to the intervention of the French Minister of Economy Emmanuel Macron, who vetoed the operation last week, on behalf of “the European Dailymotion anchoring” and “European Digital sovereignty” ( read Liberation 1 st April). Monday, Bercy justified his interference as “an informed decision of a shareholder who has opened with several potential bidders discussions.” in the Vivendi case, which has outperformed Other candidates mentioned in recent days: the Fimalac group of Marc ladreit Lacharrière and German heavyweights Springer and Bertelsmann. Still a shareholder of Orange at 25%, the French State intervenes in that capacity for the second time in the Dailymotion folder: in 2013, Arnaud Montebourg, Minister of Economy and singer of “Made in France” had already blocked a proposed acquisition of 75% of the share capital by Yahoo Dailymotion, to the chagrin of the US group. Suffice to say that the debate on the “protectionism” French will bounce from San Francisco to Hong Kong. In the immediate future, the CEO of Orange, Stéphane Richard, who has to eat his hat, he still said last month: “The future Dailymotion can not be that Franco-French, the economic patriotism reasoning applied to the Internet is rubbish. “
The offer of the Hong Kong PCCW, which valued Dailymotion 250 million, was potentially more interesting for Orange, which could retain in immediate 51% stake in its subsidiary and sell the balance later with a potential capital gain. But under the friendly pressure of the three representatives of the State shareholder, the operator’s board should welcome Vivendi’s tender offer for 100% of Dailymotion capital. . The entry into exclusive negotiations the two groups could be announced today
The parent company of Canal + and Universal Music, Vivendi has the means to pay Dailymotion: between the sale of SFR group Altice-Numericable Patrick Drahi ( shareholder Libération ) signed last year, and divestitures previously taken (GVT, Activision …), the group now has a war chest to top 15 billion euros. And if you are still wondering about the Bollore’s ambitions for Vivendi, the answer is in this: focus on Internet content to succeed where Jean-Marie Messier, who left too soon and too fast during the “bubble” had failed there about ten years.
Nain. With 128 million monthly unique visitors, Dailymotion still a dwarf compared YouTube, Google’s service with over one billion users. But the French managed to internationalize and exists today in eighteen languages. “What breached Dailymotion far, this is a long-term shareholder with a global ambition,” blast an observer to that Orange has missed the opportunity “d ‘do something’. In fact, the music is content king of online video services. And in this regard, Vivendi does not start from zero. Universal Music, which aligns a global armada artists (Eminem, Lady Gaga, Kanye West and Rihanna, to name a few), the group has enough boost Dailymotion. “But it will take a long time and invest lots of money to be face to YouTube …” This has probably not escaped Vincent Bolloré.
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