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overview
holdings
landmarks
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landmarks
This chronology is indicative only. It covers -
Context is provided by the broader communications and
media timeline on this site.
Separate chronologies as part of the Seagram
profile and Polygram offer
more detailed coverage of Seagram, Decca, Polygram and
Universal prior the Vivendi takeover.
antecedents
1832 Charles-Louis Havas establishes foreign newspaper
translation agency and bookshop
1835 Agence Havas news and advertising agency founded
1853 Compagnie Générale des Eaux (CGE) founded in Paris
as civil engineering and utilities company
1853 CGE supplies water to Lyon
1854 CGE supplies water to Nantes
1860 CGE supplies water to Paris
1866 first volume of Larousse's Grand Dictionnaire
Universel du XIXe Siecle published
1869 music publisher Durand founded as Durand-Schoenewek
& Cie
1869 Joseph Seagram becomes partner in Waterloo distillery
(founded 1857)
1879 Agence Havas becomes public company
1880 CGE supplies water to Venice
1882 CGE supplies water to Istanbul
1883 Seagram buys out partners in Waterloo operation,
forms Joseph Seagram & Sons
1898 Deutsche Grammophon (DG)
founded
1912 Universal Film Manufacturing Co formed in New York
by Carl Laemmle, later becomes Universal
Pictures
1920 merger of Agence Havas and
Société Générale des Annonces advertising agency
1924 Bronfman family forms Distillers Corporation Limited
in Canada
1924 Music Corporation of America (MCA) talent agency
founded
1928 Distillers Corporation merges with Seagram
1929 Decca records founded in UK
1940 French legislation splits Agence Havas, with news
service nationalised as Office Français d'Information
(later Agence Française de Presse)
1946 Universal Pictures merges with independent production
company International Pictures to become Universal International
1949 Seagram buys Chivas Bros in UK
1952 Universal International is sold to Decca
Records
1952 Seagram buys Mumm and Perrier-Jouet champagne in
France
MCA swallows Universal
1957 MCA buys Paramount's pre-1948
film library for US$50m
1958 MCA buys Universal's 750 acre back lot for US$11m
1960 Dutch electronics group Philips buys Mercury records
1962 Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss form A&M Records
1962 Decca sells Universal to MCA
1963 Seagram buys Texas Pacific Coal & Oil
1972 Philips and Siemens merge recording interests as
Polygram, buy Verve records
1972 CGE constructs la Défense office complex in Paris
1975 Spielberg's Jaws marks Universal's revival
as major distributor
1978 Seagram buys Glenlivet and wine and spirits division
of Dalgety Australia
1980 Polygram buys Decca
1980 CGE buys Compagnie Generale de Chauffe, becomes largest
private energy group in France
early Seagram diversification
1980 Seagram buys 32% stake in Conoco oil group
1980 Seagram gains 24% stake in Du Pont by selling Conoco
1983 CGE and Havas media group establish Canal+ pay television
group (CGE has 15% stake)
1985 Seagram buys Continental Distillers of Australia
1985 MCA buys Chess records
1987 Siemens sells Polygram stake to Philips
1987 Durand buys Amphion and Eschig catalogues
1987 French government sells stake in Havas
1987 CGE establishes telephone subsidiary
1988 Seagram buys Martell cognac in France and Tropicana
fruit juice group in US
1988 CGE buys global construction group Société Générale
d'Enterprises
1989 Polygram buys A&M Records from Alpert & Moss
for US$500m
Matsushita swallows MCA
1990 Sony rival Matsushita buys
MCA for US$6.1bn
1990 MCA buys Geffen records
1992 CGE sells hospital and healthcare operations for
US$1.8bn
1992 Canal+ establishes CanalSatellite
1993 Polygram buys Motown records
1994 CGE awarded BOOT contract for Illawarra and Woronora
water plants in Australia
Seagram moves into media
1994 Seagram buys 14.5% stake in Time
Warner
1995 Seagram sells Du Pont stake, buys MCA from Matsushita
for US$5.7bn and renames it Universal Studios
1995 Seagram buys Dole global fruit juice group
1995 Groupe Arnault sells
Ferinel (inc George V real estate division and Savinel
home building operation) to CGE
1996 Seagram sells Putnam Berkley book publishing group
to Pearson for US$300m
1996 US Telecommunications Act results in billions of
dollars of broadcast properties changing hands
1996 CGE subsidiary Cegetel becomes second largest telecommunications
operator in France
1996 CGE subsidiary United Water becomes responsible for
water and wastewater in Adelaide
1996 CGE groups its real estate-related activities in
Compagnie Générale d'Immobilier et de Services
(CGIS)
1996 Pathé floated on Paris
Bourse
1996 Havas corporate and leisure travel arm Havas Voyages
SA forms joint venture with American Express
1997 CGE buys Linjebuss, second largest public transportation
company in Scandinavia and 47.5% of New Zealand's United
Water
1997 Seagram buys remaining 50% of USA network from Viacom
for US$1.7bn
1997 CGE buys 30% of Havas
1997 buys NetHold, second largest pay-TV operator in Continental
Europe, including stake controlled by Naspers
and Richemont
Vivendi established
1998 CGE group renamed Vivendi, buys rest of Havas
1998 Vivendi buys Cendant Software
1998 buys Anaya (second largest education and multimedia
publisher in Spain)
1998 American Express buys Havas Voyages SA (leisure activity
later sold to Thomas Cook)
1998 Seagram buys Polygram
from Matsushita rival Philips for US$10.4bn
1998 Vivendi sells 6.5% stake in Telewest for £200m
1999 Seagram sells Mumm, Perrier-Jouët and Tropicana for
US$4bn
1999 Foster's buys Seagram Australia
1999 Vivendi sells Havas' outdoor advertising operations
to J C Decaux of France for
£652m
1999 Vivendi buys 30% of Polish telco Elektrim Telekomunikacja
1999 absorbs US Filter
1999 buys 15% of Canal+ from Compagnie Financiere Richemont
1999 Vivendi and Canal+ buy 20% of Pathé
1999 sells hotels to Accor for €1.4bn
1999 sells Paris commercial real estate (inc La Defense
properties) to Unibail for €900m
1999 sells 18% stake in Audiofina
1999 Seagram sells Mumm & Cie and Champagne Perrier-Jouët
to HMTF for €293.5m
Vivendi buys Seagram
2000 Vivendi buys Seagram for US$34bn, becomes Vivendi
Universal
2000 Vivendi takes 35% stake in Moroccan telco Maroc Telecom
2000 buys i-France for €182m
2000 Vivendi Environnement listed on Paris Bourse (Vivendi
retains 63% stake)
2000 Vivendi and Vodafone announce joint venture for a
European internet portal - Vizzavi
2000 Vivendi sells spirits and wines business to Diageo
and Pernod Ricard for US$8.1bn. Partial sale of civil
engineering and construction operations
2000 sells Editions Durand, Eschig and Amphion to Bertelsmann's
BMG
2000 €700m MBO of CGIS, which becomes Nexity
2000 Vivendi buys rest of Pathé for US$2.59bn,
then sells name and most assets back to Seydoux
2001
Vivendi buys US publisher Houghton Mifflin for US$1.7bn
2001 sells Canal Digital satellite operation to Norwegian
telco Telenor for US$256m
2001 Nexity sells Maeva resorts chain to Pierre et Vacances
for €90m
2001 Nexity sells Gymnase Club to Club Med €41m
2001 Nexity sells Marseilles docks and suburban Paris
property portfolio for €692m
2001 Vivendi buys MP3.com for US$372m
2001 sells its 9.9% stake in Havas
Advertising for €453m
2001 sells Eurosport stake
2001 sells stake in France Loisirs to Bertelsmann for
€153m
2001 pays €491m for increased stake in Elektrim
Telekomunikacja
2001 agrees to buy entertainment assets of Barry Diller's
USA Networks for US$10.3bn (including Liberty's
20% of USA Networks and 27% stake in Multithematiques
tv group for 3.6% of Vivendi)
2001 Vivendi Environnement awarded $150m Sydney Water
Illawarra Wastewater Strategy
2002 Vivendi Environnement agrees to buy Southern Water
in UK for US$3.1bn
2002 Nexity acquires 75 properties from Vivendi for €130m
downsizing
2002 Vivendi sells healthcare and business publishing
units for €1.2bn
2002 reduces stake in Vivendi Environnement to 40.8%
2002 sells Groupe Express-Expansion (inc l'Express)
and Groupe l'Etudiant to Hersant's
Socpresse for €200m
2002 pays US$55m for further 16% of UGC
2002 sells Elektrim Telekomunikacja stake
2002 sells its 50% share of Vizzavi for €142m
2002 sells 89% stake in Canal+ Technologies to Thomson
Multimedia for €190m
2002 sells Houghton Mifflin to Thomas H Lee, Blackstone
and Bain consortium
for US$1.66bn
2002 agrees to sell EU and Latin American publishing units
to Hachette
for US$1.2bn
2002 sells 20.4% of Vivendi Environnement for €1.856bn
2002 increases stake in Cegetel by 26% for £2.5bn
2003 sells Comareg to Hersant's
France Antilles group for €135m
2003 buys additional 26% of Cegetel (from BT) for €4bn
2003 sells Telepiu stake
2003 sells Canal+ Television AB (Nordic cable tv operations)
2003 sells Spencer Gifts knick-knack chain for US$100m
2003 sells Vivendi Hungary Telecom for €325m
2003 Nexity spins-off Cotebo
2003 Vivendi sells EchoStar stake for US$1.06bn
2003 Vivendi Environnement becomes Veolia Environnement
2003 Vivendi combines US film studios, theme parks and
cable tv channels with NBC as NBC
Universal (80% owned by GE)
2003 MP3.com sold to CNET
2003 Edgar Bronfman Jr leads Warner
Music consortium that buys Time Warner's music arm
2004 Vivendi sells stake in Kencell for US$230m
2004 sells stake in Maroc Telecom for €169m
2004 sells 15% of Veolia for €1.5bn
2005 buys Radical Entertainment
2005 Cegetel and neuf telecom merge fixed line and internet
operations as Neuf Cegetel
2005 NBC Universal pays US$3.4bn for IAC/InteractiveCorp's
5.4% stake in Vivendi Universal Entertainment
2005 Vivendi agrees to merge Canal Plus with TPS, France's
other pay-TV operator, creating a company valued at €7.5bn
2006 Vivendi Universal agrees to pay Matsushita Electric
Industrial US$1.15bn to gain full ownership of Universal
Music Group
2006 Lagardere agrees to buy
20% of Vivendi's French pay-TV business Canal Plus in
exchange for its 34% stake in CanalSatellite and €525m
2006 Vivendi sells remaining 5.3% stake in Veolia Environnement
for US$1.1bn
2006 Vivendi's Universal Music agrees to buy BMG Music
Publishing for €1.63bn
2007 Universal Music agrees to buy Sanctuary (est 1977)
for £44.5m
2007 Vivendi announces plans to acquire Activision
2008 Univision Communications
sells Univision Music Group (inc Univision Records, Fonovisa
Records and Univision Music Publishing) to Universal Music
for US$100m
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