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Jean-Marie Messier

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Entrepreneur

The Resume

    (December 13, 1956- )
    CEO of Vivendi (a french water utility)
    CEO of Vivendi-Universal (2000-July 2, 2002)
    Nickname is J2M
    Merged Vivendi with Seagram forming Vivendi-Universal (2000)

Why he might be annoying:

    He has two girlie names.
    He accused Seagram's CEO Edgar Bronfman, Jr. of being part of the clannish Jews in Hollywood who try to take advantage of the French.
    He said 'I am not a Hollywood Jew and I won't ever be one.'
    An unflattering look at his business practices was revealed in 'The Man Who Tried To Buy the World: Jean-Marie Messier and Vivendi Universal' by Jo Johnson and Martine Orange
    He spent $100 billion for what he thought would be the new media empire, but all it did was put his company into debt.
    He is called J6M by those that do not like him, which stands for 'Jean-Marie Messier, Myself, master of the world' (in French, 'world' is Monde, thus the 6th M).
    His business skills did not stand up in America, labelling him ignorant and incompetent.
    Rather than blame his short comings he hid behind excuses that Hollywood and Wall Street were out to get him.
    He wanted to be leader of the biggest movie conglomerate, yet had no knowledge of the term 'movie trailer.'
    At a stockholder's meeting, many investors rebelled against him turning their utility based stock into a media based stock. Many investors called for his ouster and some wore t-shirts that said 'Messier mega liar'(April, 2002).
    He acquired French pay-TV group Canal Plus and fired its boss, Pierre Lescure.
    His firm succeeded in having France's worst corporate annual loss (2001).
    By January 2002, the company lost 70% of it's stock value since 2000. Then, by July 2002, it lost 70% of its January 2002 stock value.
    Economist Eli Cohen said 'Mr Messier is a deal-maker... he is not an entrepreneur.'
    Despite causing great losses to Vivendi, he walked away with a $23 million severance payment plus bonuses.
    French stock market regulators reported that although they found no wrong doing on Messier's part, he may have led investors to believe the company was doing better than it was.
    The U.S. Security and Exchange Commission invoked the Sarbanes-Oxley law to block this pay out (September 16, 2003).
    The S.E.C. compiled 200,000 pages of documents that may show he hid the financial crisis from investors.
    He may have violated insider trading rules by dumping stock just prior to the company, selling off much of their stock.

Why he might not be annoying:

    When he was forced into resignation, shares of Vivendi fell 40% on the Paris Stock Exchange in one day, however days later, it got back that 40% (July 2002).
    He has a sense of humor by taking his mean spirited nickname and using it for the title of his autobiography 'J6M.COM.'
    He held a stockholders meeting attended by 5,000 at a Paris rock stadium (April 2002).
    He is disliked in France, for saying the American business model is the future.
    He moved to New York.
    After his forced resignation, he sent a letter to all employees expressing regret and gave his AOL e-mail address for responses.

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 5 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 4 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 6 Votes: 83.33% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 18 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 12 Votes: 58.33% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 13 Votes: 69.23% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 9 Votes: 77.78% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 22 Votes: 77.27% Annoying
    In 2009, Out of 31 Votes: 83.87% Annoying
    In 2008, Out of 30 Votes: 83.33% Annoying
    In 2007, Out of 60 Votes: 73.33% Annoying
    In 2006, Out of 139 Votes: 75.54% Annoying
    In 2005, Out of 272 Votes: 68.75% Annoying
    In 2004, Out of 296 Votes: 70.61% Annoying
    In 2003, Out of 186 Votes: 69.89% Annoying