Messier Insists He’s ‘In Charge’

Vivendi Universal Chief Executive Jean-Marie Messier on Thursday dismissed the suggestion that the French entertainment company’s board of directors has him on a tight leash.

“I’m in charge,” Messier said during a speech in New York. “If the board is not satisfied with my job, they should oust me.”

The CEO was responding to the board’s decision last month to create a corporate governance committee that would oversee his performance amid investor dissatisfaction that Vivendi’s stock price has dropped 50% this year. On Friday, a shareholder group asked a French court to appoint an expert to audit the firm.

The board’s new committee is co-chaired by Edgar Bronfman Jr., whose family is Vivendi’s largest shareholder and is unhappy over the sharp slide in the value of its holdings.

Messier said that Vivendi, owner of Universal Studios, has hired lawyer Ira Millstein to advise the committee on corporate governance issues. Rival Walt Disney Co. also recently tapped Millstein as a consultant.

The controversial French executive also alluded to questions about his relationship with Hollywood powerbroker Barry Diller, head of Vivendi’s U.S. film and television operations.

“Barry has a great ego, true, but I don’t care,” Messier said. “What I care about is talent.”

He said Diller may launch a music television channel to compete with Viacom Inc.’s MTV. The channel would be built around Universal Music Group, the industry leader.

It’s unclear, however, how this would fit into Messier’s plan to cut Vivendi’s $30-billion debt load through asset sales.

On Friday Vivendi agreed to sell half of a Norwegian pay-TV unit to Telenor for $274 million. Last week, Vivendi said it was selling a money-losing Italian pay-TV firm to News Corp. Vivendi also is reportedly close to selling its Canal Plus Technologies unit.