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Vivendi Names Chief Financial Officer

By Richard Verrier
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In a move to restore investor confidence in Vivendi Universal, the company’s new management team has named a respected French TV executive as its new chief financial officer.

Jacques Espinasse, chief operating officer at French satellite TV consortium TPS, faces a daunting task as Vivendi copes with a cash crunch and an investigation by French regulators into its financial communications with investors. The company recently secured a $1-billion loan with banks and is said to be negotiating a second loan for $2 billion to $3 billion.

The 59-year-old executive replaces Guillaume Hannezo, who had close ties to former Chief Executive Jean-Marie Messier, ousted in a boardroom coup two weeks ago.

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Vivendi said Hannezo, whose departure was widely expected, will serve as an advisor to its new chairman and current CEO, Jean-Rene Fourtou, for six months.

Richard Verrier

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Richard Verrier

Richard Verrier is investigations editor for Arts and Entertainment at the Los Angeles Times. He has been with The Times since 2001 and has run our Company Town since 2016. After stints at the St. Petersburg Times and the Orlando Sentinel in Florida, Verrier joined the paper as a reporter, and for many years covered all aspects of the entertainment industry before turning to editing. He oversees the Company Town coverage while working to guide and edit investigative and enterprise reporting across the entertainment team, collaborating with writers and editors from all departments. He is a native of Montreal and a graduate from the University of Toronto and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.

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