VIVENDI PAYS $1.4 BILLION TO OWN ALL OF CANAL PLUS

French media giant Vivendi has agreed to buy the 20 percent stake in France’s Canal Plus France that it does not already own from media group Lagardère for $1.4 billion in cash. The deal would end four years of bickering between the two companies over the value of the French pay-TV company. The deal was reached after the two sides began meeting with a court mediator in June. Each side had sued the other over administrative issues. In a joint statement today (Tuesday) the companies said that they will continue to work together on program production and satellite distribution. In a related matter, an appeal hearing began in Paris on Monday in the case of former Vivendi boss Jean-Marie Messier, who was convicted of mismanagement and misappropriation of corporate assets mostly related to the company’s disastrous acquisition of Universal Studios in 2000. By 2002 Vivendi Universal posted nearly $1.7 billion in losses, the largest loss ever by a French company. Messier was forced to resign, receiving a $25-million golden parachute as he stepped away. He is asking the appeals court to overturn a three-year suspended sentence and $200,000 fine handed him in 2011.