EMS RECENT NEWS

Former Vivendi-Universal CEO Makes First Public Remarks at Sloan

November 3, 2003

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Former Vivendi-Universal CEO Jean-Marie Messier spoke at Sloan today, making his first public remarks in the United States since leaving his former job.

Messier spoke about his career path to CEO, and how he turned a sleepy French water company into a $51B global media company over the span of 6 years, with assets including Universal Studios & Music, USA Networks, and Canal+ (Europe's largest pay-TV operator).

During his talk, Messier also described the lessons he learned and mistakes he made as CEO.

Jean-Marie Messier’s Biography:

Jean-Marie Messier is 46 year old, has five children and has been married for the past 20 years.

After graduating from the top scientific French university, Ecole Polytechnique, he spent 6 years as a high civil servant in the French Ministry of Finance, including 2 years as the head of staff of the Minister. He was in charge of the very first privatization program in France: between 1986 and 1988, he privatized companies such as Alcatel, Lagardère, Saint Gobain, Suez and Société Générale, which are now all part of the top 20 French corporations.

Then, J2M moved on to join Lazard Frères in 1988 where he became, at 32 the youngest ever General Partner of this famous investment bank.

As an M&A partner, he specialized in transatlantic deals and at the same time raised and launched the first European Lazard Frères private equity fund, Fonds Partenaires.

In 1994, he went to Générale des Eaux, the French utilities conglomerate, which was facing major difficulties. He created and executed a turnaround strategy that reestablished profitability of the firm in just two years. He then developed that company into Vivendi Universal with a clear vision to build a new major player in the media world relying, on the convergence of the new broad band and wireless technologies.

As J2M came to realize, the vision was strategically sound but ahead of its time. Conducting the transformation full speed, he faced the double challenge of the harsh economic climate that the internet collapse and post-September 11 created and at the same time faced significant reluctance from the French establishment, finding him too American.

J2M now runs his own company, Messier Partners, a private corporation that will be an “old fashioned investment bank” – one with a very small high level staff with a limited number of prominent international players in different fields such as luxury, media & telecom, utilities, real estate or private equity.

EMS is a student organization of the MIT Sloan School of Management.