Vivendi Buys 80% Share of Video Site Dailymotion From Orange
Orange and Vivendi have finalized the sale of the majority of video sharing site Dailymotion. Media giant Vivendi, which owns Canal+ Group and Universal Music Group, acquired an 80 percent share of Dailymotion for €217million ($241 million U.S.) with Orange retaining the remaining 20 percent. That values the company at €265 million.
This concludes Orange's long search to find a partner for Dailymotion. Orange acquired 49 percent of the company in April, 2011, and the remainder in January 2013. As Streaming Media Europe reported a month later, Orange didn't intend to stay the sole owner for long. However, a 2013 plan to sell a 75 percent stake to Yahoo for €227 million ($300 million U.S.) was stopped by the French government, as was a plan this year to sell to PCCW, a telecom based in Hong Kong.
Vivendi sees the acquisition as a way to gain value from its existing properties and control a global distribution platform, a press announcement said when the deal was first announced in April. The deal gives Vivendi added reach, noted Vincent Bolloré, chairman of Vivendi’s Supervisory Board, adding that this is Vivendi's first step in creating a global media and content group.
Dailymotion is the internet's second biggest video sharing site, serving over 350 million views each month. It follows YouTube, which serves over 15 billion views monthly.
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