PARIS (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — When Jean-René Fourtou became chairman of Vivendi in 2002, the French media group was in crisis.
Crippled with debt after the disastrous reign of the flamboyant Jean-Marie Messier, Vivendi’s survival was at stake.
Fourtou shed assets, reduced debt and turned around the company’s fortunes. It was some performance, tarnished only by allegations of insider trading levelled at him and his chosen successor, Jean-Bernard Lévy, Vivendi’s chief executive.
Today, those allegations were dismissed by the AMF because, under rules in force at the time, neither executive was guilty of any wrongdoing.
While a legal technicality, both men are now free to get on with their jobs.
