Herb in the New$ today

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RichardWarner

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Check this out from CBS Marketwatch:

Vivendi shares continue their free fall
By Russ Britt, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 4:05 PM ET May 2, 2002
NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Shares of Vivendi Universal continued falling, taking a near 5 percent plunge Thursday as word spread that the company might be on the hook for $250 million to musician Herb Alpert.

Vivendi (V: news, chart, profile) lost $1.59 to $30.67, continuing a trend in which the company's stock has dropped by almost half since Jan. 3, when it reached its high for the year. Vivendi shares closed at $57.85 that day.

Vivendi may owe Alpert up to $250 million under an agreement the famed trumpeter signed when he sold his Rondor Music to Seagram for stock in August 2000. Vivendi bought Seagram later that year and the agreement with Rondor came as part of the deal.

The pact calls for a payment to Alpert if the company's stock falls below $37.50 for 10 straight trading days. The stock has been below that level since April 3.

Vivendi officials said the company would have to make up for the difference between the price set under the pact with Alpert and what the shares sold for. Vivendi would have to make up that difference next year.

Company officials said the issue has been in the public eye for some time, pointing out it's one of the most frequently asked questions on its web site.

In another development, Vivendi also has a commitment to repurchasing nearly 20 million of its own shares at twice the price they are now. The expected outlay also could be frightening investors.

Earlier this week, Vivendi reported a net loss of $17 billion due to accounting changes the company is enacting to coincide with U.S. practices. Excluding the changes, the company would have made $51 million.

And last week, Vivendi had a contentious annual meeting as Chairman Jean-Marie Messier was booed over the firing of Pierre Lescure, the popular chief of Vivendi's Canal Plus pay TV unit in Paris. That meeting was further roiled by irregularities the company reported in shareholder votes, prompting Vivendi to call for a new meeting.

Late Thursday, Vivendi said a French court ruled that the shareholder vote was irregular, thus paving the way for a new meeting. No date has been set, company officials said.

The court also ruled that several votes affirming company resolutions were allowed to stand. Among those was a vote approving a dividend to shareholders. That dividend now will be paid May 13.
 
Check this out from CBS Marketwatch:

Vivendi shares continue their free fall
By Russ Britt, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 4:05 PM ET May 2, 2002
NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Shares of Vivendi Universal continued falling, taking a near 5 percent plunge Thursday as word spread that the company might be on the hook for $250 million to musician Herb Alpert.

I guess Herb can afford to put out his catalog now. :)


Capt. Bacardi
 
Shares of Vivendi Universal continued falling, taking a near 5 percent plunge Thursday as word spread that the company might be on the hook for $250 million to musician Herb Alpert.

I don't know why, but this news makes me want to laugh hysterically. :D All I can say is that Vivendi deserves what they get, and I'm glad Herb gets a lot of profit from their blunders. IMHO, Universal/Vivendi/who-the-hell-ever destroyed the A&M we knew, and they can not sink low enough in my book.

-= N =-
...wondering about short-selling V/U's stock....
 
Captain Bacardi said:
Check this out from CBS Marketwatch:

Vivendi shares continue their free fall
By Russ Britt, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 4:05 PM ET May 2, 2002
NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Shares of Vivendi Universal continued falling, taking a near 5 percent plunge Thursday as word spread that the company might be on the hook for $250 million to musician Herb Alpert.

I guess Herb can afford to put out his catalog now. :)


Capt. Bacardi



Catalog? He could buy Nieman-Marcus, or at least K-Mart[then he wouldn't need a catalog...]. Anyway, I hope SOMETHING happens soon...

Dan, wondering if Herb's a billionaire by now...NP: Salud, Amor Y DINERO....
 
This was in the Daily Telepgraph business section today, toegtehr with a picture of Herb Alpert:

Herb's on song as Vivendi goes off key
By Andrew Cave, Associate City Editor (Filed: 03/05/2002)


VIVENDI, the troubled French entertainment giant, may have to pay up to $250 million (£170 million) to legendary trumpeter Herb Alpert - because shares in the world's second largest entertainment company keep falling.

The potential payment arises from the sale of music publishers Rondor Music International by Mr Alpert and his business partner Jerry Moss in August 2000.

Rondor was bought for $350 million in shares by Universal Music Group, then owned by Seagram of Canada. However, the agreement included provision for a cash payment to be made if the shares fell below a certain level.

The annual report of Vivendi, which bought Seagram in December 2000, reveals that the agreement was transferred to Vivendi. It says that Mr Alpert and Mr Moss can demand a cash payment if Vivendi shares trade below $37.50 for ten consecutive days. That has happened every day since April 3, and Vivendi is the worst performer in France's benchmark CAC 40 index, having fallen 44 per cent this year.

Rondor's agreement gives Mr Alpert and Mr Moss until 2005 to ask for the money.

A Vivendi spokesman said: "It is a potential amount that we have to pay. I do not know if they have asked for it but once they have asked for it we have a year to pay it . . . Of course, we expect to fulfil our commitments."

Mr Alpert, famous for his Tijuana Brass music group and hits including The Lonely Bull and A Taste of Honey, founded Rondor with Mr Moss in 1962. Its back catalogue includes Thriller by Michael Jackson, Al Green's Let's Stay Together and Otis Redding's Sitting on the Dock of the Bay.

Mr Alpert and Mr Moss were also the founders of the A & M Records label. It was sold for $460 million in 1989 to PolyGram, which was bought by Seagram in 1998.

A Paris court has allowed Vivendi Universal to hold a new shareholder meeting because of the suspicion that the electronic voting system was tampered with.
 
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