{"page":"\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/resources-572d6a42.css\" /\u003e\n\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/lp_boclips_stylesheets-f4d0de30.css\" media=\"all\" /\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-title='CEO vows to cut debt by two-thirds by end of 2004' data-url='/boclips/videos/5c54c1a2d8eafeecae153a71' data-video-url='/boclips/videos/5c54c1a2d8eafeecae153a71' id='bo_player_modal'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='boclips-resource-page modal-dialog panel-container'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='react-notifications-root'\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-header'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-type'\u003e\n\u003ci aria-hidden='true' class='fai fa-regular fa-circle-play'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\nVideo\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ch1 class='rp-title' id='video-title'\u003e\nCEO vows to cut debt by two-thirds by end of 2004\n\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-actions'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='mr-1'\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"btn btn-success\" data-posthog-event=\"Signup: LP Signup Activity\" data-posthog-location=\"body_link_boclips\" data-remote=\"true\" href=\"/subscription/new\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGet Free Access\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"\"\u003e for 10 Days\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e!\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-body'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-info'\u003e\n\u003cdiv aria-label='Hide resource details' class='rp-hide-info' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u0026times;\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Expand resource details' class='rp-expand-info fai fa-solid fa-up-right-and-down-left-from-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Compress resource details' class='rp-compress-info fai fa-solid fa-down-left-and-up-right-to-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-rating'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='resource-pool'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-label'\u003ePublisher:\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-name'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='text'\u003e\u003ca data-publisher-id=\"30356011\" href=\"/search?publisher_ids%5B%5D=30356011\"\u003eCurated Video\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-description'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='short-description'\u003e1. Various employees of Vivendi Universal publishing houses demonstrating with banners outside the company headquarters 2. SOUNDBITE (French) Monique Gouix, employee at Nathan publishing house:\"Well it's the same for me. That it is...\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='full-description hide'\u003e1. Various employees of Vivendi Universal publishing houses demonstrating with banners outside the company headquarters \u003cbr/\u003e2. SOUNDBITE (French) Monique Gouix, employee at Nathan publishing house:\u003cbr/\u003e\"Well it's the same for me. That it is Fourtou or Messier, we are all in the same boat. We are here anyway to defend\u003cbr/\u003eour jobs, the durability of our jobs, our trademarks, because we don't want to be sold to whomever, and however. We know that we'll be sold but we want to stay French.\"\u003cbr/\u003e3. Various demonstrators with banners outside headquarters\u003cbr/\u003e4. SOUNDBITE (French) Christine Dubois, employee at Armand Colin publishing house: \u003cbr/\u003e\"We are here this afternoon to show that we are still vigilant, that we are worried, we are wondering what is going\u003cbr/\u003eto happen with our jobs and we want that, upstairs (in the VU headquarters), they take care about the people presence and about the human factors in all those big financial deals. That's it.\"\u003cbr/\u003e5. More demonstrators with banners\u003cbr/\u003e6. Wide shot Jean-Rene Fourtou, CEO of Vivendi Universal on stage, surrounded by press\u003cbr/\u003e7. Various journalists\u003cbr/\u003e8. SOUNDBITE (French) Jean-Rene Fourtou, CEO of Vivendi Universal: \u003cbr/\u003e\"Our aim is twelve billions of units transfer, not on two years as we said previously but on eighteen months. This includes all the publishing area, we can talk about it later, and does not\u003cbr/\u003einclude any other major unit.\"\u003cbr/\u003e9. Cutaway photographer\u003cbr/\u003e10. Wide shot Fourtou showing graphic\u003cbr/\u003e11. SOUNDBITE (English) Jean-Rene Fourtou, CEO of Vivendi Universal:\u003cbr/\u003e\"In the situation of the company, my first job is the interest of the shareholders above anything else.\"\u003cbr/\u003e12. Cutaways audience listening\u003cbr/\u003e13. SOUNDBITE (English) Jean-Rene Fourtou, CEO of Vivendi Universal \u003cbr/\u003e\"I don't feel any pressure from the government. I don't feel any pressure from the government, I repeat. Well, maybe, they called me, but frankly I don't feel any pressure from those guys.\"\u003cbr/\u003e14. Wide shot journalists and cameramen rushing to stage, surrounding Fourtou\u003cbr/\u003eLaying out his strategy for nursing troubled Vivendi Universal back to health, chairman and CEO Jean-Rene Fourtou said on Wednesday he would cut the media giant's towering debt by two-thirds with a fire-sale of assets over the next 18 months.\u003cbr/\u003eFourtou, who took over the hobbled French conglomerate in July, said he would sell off the company's publishing units and all its telecommunications units outside of France and cut costs at Paris headquarters.\u003cbr/\u003eVivendi Universal is saddled with 17 billion euros (US$16.7 billion) in debt, and Fourtou predicted that by the end of 2004, that burden would be down to 6.4 billion euros (US$6.3 billion).\u003cbr/\u003eHe also signaled a sharper focus for Vivendi in the future. Under his flamboyant predecessor, Jean-Marie Messier, the company had branched rapidly into new businesses - a strategy now blamed for creating its debt problems.\u003cbr/\u003e\"The company's major strategic thrust will be the media and entertainment business, in other words, the creation of consumer content,\" Fourtou said.\u003cbr/\u003eEarlier Wednesday, Vivendi announced it would sell its 89 percent stake in Canal Plus Technologies - its pay -television software unit - to consumer electronics maker Thomson Multimedia for 190 million euros (US$186.4 million) in cash.\u003cbr/\u003eSome 5 billion euros (US$4.9 billion) worth of assets are to be sold over the next nine months, including most of the loss-making assets of pay -TV unit Canal Plus, Vivendi said in August.\u003cbr/\u003eTo raise more cash, Fourtou is also considering selling part of Vivendi's 40.8 percent stake in its French utility group Vivendi Environment  as well as a 10 percent stake in U.S. satellite TV operator Echostar Communications.\u003cbr/\u003eThe long-awaited sale of Canal Plus Technologies, a unit of Canal Plus Group, has been approved by the boards of Vivendi and Thomson and is awaiting approval by the relevant competition authorities, Vivendi said.\u003cbr/\u003eThomson Multimedia already has a 3.2 percent stake in Canal Plus Technologies. Sony Corp. of Japan and Sogecable SA of Spain also hold stakes of 3.2 percent each, while U.S. software giant Sun Microsystems Inc. owns 1.4 percent.\u003cbr/\u003eVivendi Universal aims to refocus Canal Plus around the premium French TV station from which the company takes its name, as well as satellite TV platform CanalSatellite and media production company Studio Canal.\u003cbr/\u003eVivendi secured 2 billion euros (US$1.96 billion) in new loans last week, averting a looming cash crunch and giving Fourtou some breathing space to sell assets and tame the company's bulging debt.\u003cbr/\u003eSeparately, Vivendi is also in advanced talks with News Corp. to sell its Italian loss-making pay-TV unit Telepiu for between 1 billion euros (US$981 million) and 1.5 billion euros (US$1.47 billion).\u003cbr/\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='action-container flex justify-between'\u003e\n\u003cbutton aria-expanded='false' aria-label='Read more description' 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