Vivendi condemned Messier relaxed
The popular jury ruled. Vivendi misled shareholders about its financial situation between 2000 and 2002 and may have to pay billions of dollars in damage to hundreds of thousands of shareholders.
The trial class action lasted more than three months in New York and requested fourteen days of deliberations. The jury convicted Vivendi guilty of "recklessly misleading communication" on all of the 57 statements on which the group was pursued. He cleared the former CEO of the group, Jean-Marie Messier, and its former CFO, Guillaume Hannezo.
Vivendi will appeal
"The verdict will allow investors to recover an estimated 6.6 billion euros, announced the plaintiffs' lawyers, welcoming the decision of the jury."It'sa huge victory," welcomed the lawyer Maxim Delespaul, while acknowledging that it was only half of what experts had requested.
Vivendi strongly disputes the jury's decision and will appeal. "The jury said that two men are innocent while the company is guilty of the same facts. Furthermore, to calculate the damage, he simply divided into two amounts proposed by the plaintiff, a verdict is absurd and contradictory, "says the group's lawyer, Herve Pisani.
The outcome of this trial will not be known before long. It depends on the outcome of the appeal, and this procedure can be initiated only after the final calculation of damages.Furthermore, if the complaining party announces sales of 6.6 billion, Vivendi said it will take between twelve and eighteen months to calculate the amount of damages.
It will indeed consider each of the complainants' requests, which will be calculated daily based on purchases and sales of securities made between October 30, 2000 and August 14, 2002. It is not known how many shareholders ask to be compensated. In the United States, between 20 and 30% of investors demand compensation after a class action, according to Herve Pisani. The number of shareholders was estimated at one million, the shares traded in the period to one billion.
The trial in "class action" is unique in its kind.This is the first time that so many French shareholders are involved in class action U.S.: about half a million shareholders divided between France, the United States, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. It is rare in the United States a company refuses, as did Vivendi, to compromise with the complainant before the verdict. U.S. companies believe they can get away with a bill less salt if they find a compromise with representatives of the class action.
Whatever happens, "Vivendi will not pay a penny before the outcome of the appeal, said Herv? Pisani.All elements are present for Vivendi wins this appeal. "
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