Lescure to head Vivendi Universal film activities

Vivendi staff are to get the top jobs in the new Vivendi Universal combine, but Canal Plus' boss Pierre Lescure will oversee all film and TV activities.

Jean-Marie Messier, Vivendi chairman and architect of the deal (see profile), will as expected, become chairman and CEO at the head of a 20-member board of directors. Lescure and Vivendi COO Eric Licoys will share power as co-COOs of the combined company.

Edgar Bronfman Jr, the 45 year-old scion of the Bronfman clan who shook up drinks group Seagram by giving it a potent cocktail of entertainment content, is named vice chairman. He is given responsibility for music and all internet activities but his position remains slightly nebulous. Lescure and Licoys have each been given jobs at the head of one of the group's five operating divisions - Lescure as head of the Image division and Licoys as publishing head - but Bronfman has not. Instead, music is to be headed by Universal Music chief Doug Morris while Vivendi high-flyer Philippe Germond heads both the telecommunications and internet divisions.

The Vivendi Universal board is expected to comprise all of Vivendi's current 14 directors, Lescure and five members from the Seagram board, of which three will be Bronfman family members.

The company, which is to be headquartered in Paris with an additional corporate centre in New York, will be run on a day-to-day basis by a six member executive committee consisting of Messier, Bronfmann, Lescure, Licoys, Germond and chief financial officer Guillaume Hannezo.

To manage the merger process, an integration committee will meet at least once a month. It will be made up of the executive committee members plus two operating executives from each division, bringing the total headcount to about 20. It will be expected to identify and implement synergies involving cross-distribution, cross-marketing opportunities, new business models and to develop new services and products.