Vivendi, Vodafone Internet Venture Seeks AOL Europe Stake
By Melissa Pozsgay
Vivendi, Vodafone Internet Venture Seeks AOL Europe Stake
Paris, Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Vivendi SA said its new Internet
venture with Vodafone AirTouch Plc, MAP, is interested in buying
Bertelsmann AG's 50 percent stake in AOL Europe.
The Internet venture unveiled Sunday, called MAP for now,
``would be the best partner for America Online Inc. and we're
studying this option,' Vivendi spokesman Alain Delrieu said.
Vivendi, the world's largest environmental services company,
already owns 55 percent of AOL France through its Cegetel phone
and Canal Plus SA pay-television subsidiaries and has held talks
with AOL about expanding that cooperation to cover Europe. It
declined to say how much MAP would be willing to pay for the stake
in AOL Europe, whether talks had already begun, or if there were
other candidates interested in Bertelsmann's stake.
MAP plans to create an Internet access service to compete
with the likes of Yahoo! Inc. and other Internet services.
The venture has a potential customer base of 70 million,
including Vodafone and Vivendi's phone clients and subscribers to
Canal Plus, Europe's biggest pay-television service which is 49-
percent owned by Vivendi. It will focus on selling the service to
all types of electronic devices, from cellular phones to personal
computers and televisions.
``AOL would bring to the venture expertise in access to PCs
and MAP the best footprint for European mobile phone and pay-
television service,' Delrieu said. ``We're studying this option
seriously.'
AOL Europe has more than 2.7 million clients. |
