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The man who tried to buy the world : Jean-Marie Messier and Vivendi Universal

by Johnson, Jo.

Format: Print Book 2003
Availability: Available at 1 Library 1 of 1 copy

Available (1)
Location Collection Call #
Moon Township Public Library Non-Fiction 338.8092 JOHNSON
Location  Moon Township Public Library
 
Collection  Non-Fiction
 
Call Number  338.8092 JOHNSON
 
 

Summary
This EMS volume, the first edition of which was published as Dynamical Systems II, EMS 2, sets out to familiarize the reader to the fundamental ideas and results of modern ergodic theory and its applications to dynamical systems and statistical mechanics. The exposition starts from the basic of the subject, introducing ergodicity, mixing and entropy. The ergodic theory of smooth dynamical systems is treated. Numerous examples are presented carefully along with the ideas underlying the most important results. Moreover, the book deals with the dynamical systems of statistical mechanics, and with various kinetic equations. For this second enlarged and revised edition, published as Mathematical Physics I, EMS 100, two new contributions on ergodic theory of flows on homogeneous manifolds and on methods of algebraic geometry in the theory of interval exchange transformations were added. This book is compulsory reading for all mathematicians working in this field, or wanting to learn about it.
Published Reviews
Publisher's Weekly Review: "Messier was a wunderkind of French business who at the age of 37 was appointed chief executive of Generale des Eaux. He had already served in the finance ministry under Jacques Chirac and been a managing partner with the investment banking firm Lazard Freres when he assumed leadership of Generale in 1994, and the water management company was one of France's largest corporations. Messier, however, did not see Generale's future in water and sewage management, but in the media and information world. To accomplish the transformation, Messier embarked on a dizzying buying spree highlighted by the $42 billion purchase in 2000 of Seagram, a deal that included Seagram's Universal assets. For Messier, the creation of the newly minted Vivendi Universal (which also bought Houghton Mifflin in 2001) was not only a personal triumph, but also a statement that a French company could compete on the world stage. But as Johnson and Orange show, Messier created a gulf between himself and the French establishment that left him with few allies as he tried to save his company when business conditions declined in 2001. In their briskly paced, insightful work, Johnson, the Paris correspondent for the Financial Times, and Orange, a reporter for Le Monde, relate Messier's many missteps that led to his fall from the top of the media world. Part of Messier's undoing was the disdain many French have for America's domination of the media and the belief that in merging with Seagram, Messier had sold out French culture. Given the French attitude about America as documented by Johnson and Orange, the recent strain in French-American relations comes as no surprise. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved"
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Additional Information
Subjects Messier, Jean-Marie, -- 1956-
Bronfman family.
Vivendi (Firm) -- History.
Universal Pictures (Firm)
Seagram Company -- History.
Businessmen -- France -- Biography.
Businessmen -- Canada -- Biography.
Conglomerate corporations -- France.
Conglomerate corporations -- Canada.
Consolidation and merger of corporations -- France -- Case studies.
Consolidation and merger of corporations -- Canada -- Case studies.
Consolidation and merger of corporations -- United States -- Case studies.
Publisher New York :Portfolio,2003
Edition 1st American ed.
Contributors Orange, Martine.
Language English
Description xvi, 268 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Bibliography Notes Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 159184018X (alk. paper)
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