Vivendi S.A. history, profile and corporate video
Vivendi S.A. is a French media conglomerate headquartered in Paris, France. It can trace its roots to the founding of a water company named Compagnie Générale des Eaux (CGE) by an imperial decree of Napoleon III on 14 December 1853.
In 1983, Compagnie Générale des Eaux helped to found Canal+, the first pay-TV channel in France, and in the 1990s, they began expanding into telecommunications and mass media.
In 1998, CGE changed its name to Vivendi SARL.
On 8 December 2000, Vivendi Universal SA was created with the merger of Vivendi SARL with Canal+ television networks and the acquisition of media assets of Seagram Company Ltd, owner of Universal Studios.
The company operates through the following business segments: Music (Universal Music Group), Television & Cinema (Canal+ Group), Communications (Havas), Publishing (Editis) and Video Games (Gameloft). Its distribution platforms (Dailymotion and myCanal) ensure a large distribution of content and talent.
Music
The Music segment offers a broad range of renowned music to audiences around the world.
Audiovisual & cinema
The Audiovisual & cinema segment provides cinema, TV series and sports to a demanding audience eager for diversified and ambitious entertainment.
Communications
In the Communications segment, its subsidiary Havas Group represents the most integrated group in the marketing and communications industry.
Publishing
In the Publishing segment, it represents a leading European player in publishing with Editis, which covers all genres: French and foreign literature, youth, history, essays and documents, guides and self-help books, art books, mangas, textbooks, and reference books.
Video Games
The Video Games segment engages in the development and publishing of video games for all digital platforms with Gameloft, which owns its own established franchises such as Asphalt®, Order & Chaos, Modern Combat and Dungeon Hunter.
With more than 44 000 employees, Vivendi SA is considered one of the top 2000 largest public companies in the world, according to Forbes.
*Information from Forbes.com, Wikipedia.org, and ”www.vivendi.com/en”.
**Video published on YouTube by “Wiki4All“.