Man Who Tried to Buy the World [Paperback]

Jo Johnson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 12, 2004

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.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Messier was a wunderkind of French business who at the age of 37 was appointed chief executive of Generale des Eaux. He had already served in the finance ministry under Jacques Chirac and been a managing partner with the investment banking firm Lazard Freres when he assumed leadership of Generale in 1994, and the water management company was one of France's largest corporations. Messier, however, did not see Generale's future in water and sewage management, but in the media and information world. To accomplish the transformation, Messier embarked on a dizzying buying spree highlighted by the $42 billion purchase in 2000 of Seagram, a deal that included Seagram's Universal assets. For Messier, the creation of the newly minted Vivendi Universal (which also bought Houghton Mifflin in 2001) was not only a personal triumph, but also a statement that a French company could compete on the world stage. But as Johnson and Orange show, Messier created a gulf between himself and the French establishment that left him with few allies as he tried to save his company when business conditions declined in 2001. In their briskly paced, insightful work, Johnson, the Paris correspondent for the Financial Times, and Orange, a reporter for Le Monde, relate Messier's many missteps that led to his fall from the top of the media world. Part of Messier's undoing was the disdain many French have for America's domination of the media and the belief that in merging with Seagram, Messier had sold out French culture. Given the French attitude about America as documented by Johnson and Orange, the recent strain in French-American relations comes as no surprise.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Books (January 12, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0141013419
• ISBN-13: 978-0141013411
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 4.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,029,199 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An insight into French business & politics, April 24, 2008

By 

Liber Sosius (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Man Who Tried to Buy the World: Jean-Marie Messier and Vivendi Universal (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, May 11, 2009

By 

Valaya Gaudet "Prassina" (Tucson, Arizona) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Man Who Tried to Buy the World (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.