The Paris Court of Appeal ruled on Wednesday that French tycoon Vincent Bolloré and his Bolloré Group do not exercise control over media and entertainment group Vivendi
The ruling, which was confirmed by Vivendi in a statement, is significant because a decision in the opposite direction could have triggered an obligatory buyout of Vivendi by Bolloré, with some estimates suggesting this could have cost the group more than $10B
The ruling follows a claim by minority Vivendi investor CIAM which began in the wake of Vivendi’s 2024 breakup, and the spinning-off of Canal Plus, Havas, and Louis Hachette
Under that operation, which won the approval of 97% of the Vivendi shareholders, the Bolloré Group retained a 29.3% stake in Vivendi. Under French law, shareholders surpassing a 30% ownership threshold must launch a buyout offer
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CIAM argued that while Bollore’s stake in Vivendi was under the threshold, it effectively controlled the group
Following Wednesday’s ruling, CIAM partner and president Catherine Berjal said the investor group would be launching an appeal at the Court of Cassation
A previous April 2025 Court of Appeal ruling stated that Vivendi was de facto controlled by Vincent Bolloré and the Bolloré Group, paving the way for a mandatory buyout. This was then overruled by the Court of Cassation in November 2025, which referred the case back to the Court of Appeal
The fresh ruling sees Paris’ Court of Appeal reject Attorney General Carla Deveille-Fontinha’s argument that Bolloré did control Vivendi on the basis that the group had “never encountered any opposition” at AGMs and that “decisions lacking Vincent Bolloré’s support” were not adopted
It could also have a knock-on effect for the Universal Music Group, in which the Bolloré Group owns an 18.4% stake, and Vivendi owns a 13.4% stake. There had been suggestions that the Bolloré Group would have to sell it’s UMG stake to finance a mandatory Vivendi buyout
This possibility has weighed on the UMG share price, while Cyrille Bolloré, Chair and CEO of the Bolloré Group, told the group’s AGM in Paris in Maythat he had encouraged UMG management to reject a $64.4B offer from Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square
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