Messier a Man on a Media Mission

To size up the ambitions of Vivendi Universal Chairman Jean-Marie Messier, one only has to look to the title of his 247-page autobiography published last year in France: “J6M.com.”

The acronym in the French bestseller’s title stands for “Jean-Marie Messier, Moi-Meme, Maitre du Monde.” In English, that’s “Jean-Marie Messier, Me, Myself, Master of the World.”

Although it’s a playful reference to one of Messier’s nicknames in France, it nonetheless aptly characterizes the ambitious quest Messier launched less than two years ago to put himself at center stage of the global media business. In doing so, Messier is by far the youngest--he turned 45 Thursday--and arguably one of the most brash of today’s media barons.

Messier’s journey to international mogul can be traced to the day in January 2000 when Bertelsmann Chairman Thomas Middelhoff telephoned him with the news that Time Warner was merging with America Online to form an entertainment and Internet colossus.

It was, Messier has said, an epiphany that he needed to build Vivendi into a diverse, global media conglomerate.

From that point on, Messier has zealously worked to transform Vivendi from a staid French utility into a global media giant, crafting some $60 billion in deals, including a $10-billion-to-$12 billion pact expected to be announced today that would give him control of mogul Barry Diller’s USA Networks entertainment assets.

USA would be joined with Vivendi’s Universal Studios, the company behind such hit films as “Jurassic Park III,” “The Fast and the Furious,” and “The Mummy” series, with Diller overseeing the bulked-up operation.

In an interview with The Times on Friday, Messier touted his USA Networks deal and another to buy 11% of satellite-TV service EchoStar, saying the moves are part of a strategy to put Vivendi on an equal footing with U.S. giants such as AOL Time Warner, Viacom and Disney.

“It means that Vivendi’s strategy is coming together,” he said. “Some people have underestimated the place and role that [Vivendi Universal] can play in the U.S. market.”

Probably France’s best known chief executive--Fortune dubbed him that nation’s “first rock star CEO”--Messier has shown an uncanny ability to get attention. During a ceremony this year in which he received France’s highest award, the Legion of Honor, Messier shook up the normally dignified proceedings by playing a Shania Twain recording and singing along with Stevie Wonder’s “I Just Called to Say I Love You.”

In September, Messier, seeking a higher profile in the U.S., especially on Wall Street, moved into a $17-million Park Avenue apartment in New York, giving several interviews to talk about his relocation to the world’s media center.

“Messier wants to be accepted as someone who’s on an equal footing with the [Barry] Dillers,” said Michael Hilton, an analyst with ABN Amro in London.

Increasingly, however, the former French civil servant has been criticized as egocentric. His book, which details his rise in business with his philosophy about the “new economy” (the full title is “J6M.com: Voyage to the Heart of the New Economy”) even has its own Web site. Visitors to J6M.com can e-mail Messier questions or comments.

Critics have raised questions about whether Vivendi Universal’s strategy is more about Messier than media.

Known for years as “J2M” for his initials (it’s even part of his e-mail sign-on at Universal Vivendi), French wags dubbed him J6M instead, adding the “master of the world” moniker to reflect what some viewed as cockiness and arrogance.

In his book, Messier revealed his earnings even though French business regulators don’t require disclosure--about $900,000 in salary and $20 million in options--and said he deserved it because he made shareholders wealthy.

In a review of Messier’s book published last year in the journal Foreign Policy, Erik Izraelewicz wrote, “Without a doubt, this is the first time that a powerful French CEO has devoted himself to the game so often played in the United States, the one of self-promotion, known in France as ‘Moi, par moi-meme’ (Me, by myself). This game surprises no one in New York, but it is astonishing in Paris.”

But as Messier wrote unapologetically in his book, “Don’t ask a boss to be modest.”

Married with five children, Messier was born in Grenoble, the son of an accountant. He graduated from France’s elite business school, Ecole Polytechnique, in 1979, and earned another degree in 1982 at prestigious Ecole Nationale d’Administration school for civil servants, initially going to work for the French government.

At 32, he joined investment bank Lazard Freres. In 1994, he joined French water utility Compagnie Generale des Eaux. He would transform that company into Vivendi and, one year ago, into Vivendi Universal when he acquired Seagram.

In person, the baby-faced Messier is charming, animated and loquacious, with answers to a single question often spanning several minutes.

Messier thinks five areas of “content” will be important as the Internet and wireless age matures: music, movies, sports, education and games.

To demonstrate the kind of convergence between electronics and entertainment he has in mind, Messier often whips out a cellular telephone to show he can access sports scores or news about a new song by Johnny Hallyday, a legendary French rock star virtually unknown in the U.S. His cellular phone demonstrations have gotten him only so far. His highly touted Vizzavi Internet portal stumbled, and Wall Street has yet to buy into Messier’s vision. In addition to moving to New York, Messier hired Laura Martin, an analyst with Credit Suisse First Boston, as his investor relations chief to help him communicate his vision.

Messier’s in-person charisma belies his toughness. Messier was so incensed this year when Klaus Esser, former head of German telecommunications firm Mannesmann, called him “indecent and dishonorable” in an interview with London’s Financial Times that he threatened to send his lawyers after Esser.

Messier had accused Esser in his book of breaking an agreement of confidence when Vivendi was discussing a merger with Mannesmann. Messier’s management style is to immerse himself in each business.

“He wants to do everything himself,” said one former Seagram executive, who added that style was the source of conflict with executives he inherited from Seagram, including former Chief Executive Edgar Bronfman Jr.

In a recent interview, Bronfman acknowledged that there was little room at the top for him once Messier took over, leading to his announcement this month that he is leaving the company. But, Bronfman added, “Jean-Marie and I had a strong relationship and a real sense of respect and admiration.”

In an interview with The Times last year shortly after agreeing to buy Seagram, Messier went out of his way to portray himself as part of a new generation of European businessmen, more in tune with the free-market philosophy of U.S. businessmen than Europe’s old guard that depended on government regulations.

Indeed, Messier is an unabashed fan of the United States and, especially, of New York.

As the Foreign Policy review of Messier’s book said: “Jean-Marie Messier is already an American in his head, and he’s proud of it.”

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Times staff writer Richard Verrier contributed to this report.