An indepth investigation into the rise and dramatic fall of Jean-Marie Messier, one of the most charismatic and influential buinessmen of the new ecomony and the creation of Vivendi Universal.
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About the Author
Jo Johnson, 30, is currently Paris correspondent of the Financial Times. Martine Orange, 44, is a renowned journalist for Le Monde.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By A. Manley
Format:Hardcover
Jean-Marie Messier, the man who attempted to turn Vivendi into the wold's largest media group, was simultaneously victim and villain. Vivendi had entered the 1990s as a rather dull French state-owned regional water supplier. Messier was a product of the Ecole Normale d'Administration -- an 'enarque' -- putting him in the company of most of the big players in French state administration and politics. An enarque was at the time regarded as being the only person capable of running anything of significance, despite the fact that many had little experience of anything apart from the theory of bureaucracy and the history of the French state.
Messier decided that the IT economy was the way forward and made a series of increasingly grandiose acquisitions in the US,leveraging Vivendi to an impossible extent on French and international money markets. Essentially, he got his timing wrong: the dot.com bust put his company in an impossible position. Meanwhile, the man himself got carried away, pronouncing on any and all subjects to any journalist who wanted to point a tape recorder in his direction. He made the mistake of saying that the French cultural exception was over. This signalled danger to Jacques Chirac's now profoundly anti-American policy elite, especially where media matters were concerned. Messier was rapidly undercut and his position made impossible. Essentially, he colluded -- unknowingly -- in his own downfall. This book, extremely well written but lacking here and there in deep analysis of the social trends behind the culture of power in France, is essential reading for anyone following the politics-business nexus in one of the world's largest economies.
Messier decided that the IT economy was the way forward and made a series of increasingly grandiose acquisitions in the US,leveraging Vivendi to an impossible extent on French and international money markets. Essentially, he got his timing wrong: the dot.com bust put his company in an impossible position. Meanwhile, the man himself got carried away, pronouncing on any and all subjects to any journalist who wanted to point a tape recorder in his direction. He made the mistake of saying that the French cultural exception was over. This signalled danger to Jacques Chirac's now profoundly anti-American policy elite, especially where media matters were concerned. Messier was rapidly undercut and his position made impossible. Essentially, he colluded -- unknowingly -- in his own downfall. This book, extremely well written but lacking here and there in deep analysis of the social trends behind the culture of power in France, is essential reading for anyone following the politics-business nexus in one of the world's largest economies.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By Barton Keyes
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
The British Press has been transfixed by the the shenanigans at Enron, World.com and Tryco and has largely missed the significance of events in European companies like Vivendi, Parmalat, Royal Ahold and Adecco. This well-written and well-paced book does something to restore the balance. The authors -- for the most part -- do well in concealing their contempt for the egregious J-P Messier and in exposing the shallowness of the French system of cronyism that propels individuals of obviously huge brain and egos to match, into positions of power that they are poorly-equipped to occupy.
The most astonishing parts of the book deal with the subordinate players who aided and abetted Messier in his grandiose plans -- his coterie of French acolytes and American hangers-on who were unable to rein him in.
Criticisms of the book are few: some photos would have been useful to help fix the (mostly unfamiliar) main players in the reader's mind's eye; there are one or two infelicitous phrases that reveal the collaborative nature of the writing; there is some (very minor) repetition. But this is a story that deserves a wider audience. Students of corporate governance could read it with profit -- and the informed general reader should take note of the significance of what happened: the actions of a few men with their snouts so deep in the trough that they could not even sniff approaching disaster, destroyed the carefully-husbanded wealth of millions of ordinary people.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.0 out of 5 stars
2 reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
An insight into French business & politics
25 April 2008
By Liber Sosius
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
"The Man who tried to buy the World..." may sound like hyperbole yet either through the writers' work or their bias we have Monsieur Messier likened to Napoleon Bonaparte. A man who achieved alot in a short time yet crossed a bridge too far. Invariably this was the single detracting element in the book, a less than complete portrayal of a complex man and his motives. Otherwise the span of the book is excellent, summarising the French psyche, education system and government as Messier's career was heavily indebted to each. Likewise is the generous rendering of the peculiarities of French business which includes shared boards, weakened corporate governance structures, cross shareholdings and the clandestine workings of senior management. Maybe a little light on Messier's time at Lazard but the only book read by this reviewer that shines a light on French business. Now how about a book on Societe Generale and its rogue trader Jerome Kerviel?
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Captivating
12 May 2009
By Valaya Gaudet "Prassina"
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
This is a fascinating story of the rapid rise to international fame of French businessman Jean-Marie Messier, the founder of Vivendi Universal, and of his subsequent, equally fast decline from worldwide favor. The book is extremely well written in a clear, brisk style. I did know anything about the Vivendi empire until I read "The Man who tried to buy the World" but it seems to be supported by solid and reliable research. The authors, Jo Johnson and Martine Orange, do an amazing job of keeping the reader interested in what could have been a very dry account of a French wannabe American and his conglomerate gone bust.
My only (minor) criticism concerns a few spelling mistakes I spotted. On pages 17 and 167, for instance,"president-directeur general"(French for chairman/managing director/CEO) is misspelled as "president-directeur-generale"- a mistake that should have been caught considering the topic of the book. Aside from that, this is a great read.
My only (minor) criticism concerns a few spelling mistakes I spotted. On pages 17 and 167, for instance,"president-directeur general"(French for chairman/managing director/CEO) is misspelled as "president-directeur-generale"- a mistake that should have been caught considering the topic of the book. Aside from that, this is a great read.
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