Company Story
1853 - Founding of Compagnie Générale des Eaux, the company that would eventually become Vivendi.
1970 - Compagnie Générale des Eaux begins to expand into the water treatment and waste management industries.
1980 - The company begins to diversify into other industries, including energy, transportation, and telecommunications.
1996 - The company changes its name to Vivendi and begins to focus on the media and entertainment industries.
1998 - Vivendi acquires PolyGram, a Dutch music company, and merges it with its own music division to form Universal Music Group.
2000 - Vivendi acquires Seagram, a Canadian conglomerate, and merges its entertainment assets with those of Vivendi to form Vivendi Universal.
2004 - Vivendi Universal Entertainment is sold to General Electric, and the company changes its name back to Vivendi.
2014 - Vivendi acquires an 80% stake in the French telecommunications company, SFR.
2015 - Vivendi acquires an 80% stake in the French video game company, Gameloft.
2016 - Vivendi acquires a 64.4% stake in the Italian telecommunications company, Telecom Italia.
2020 - Vivendi acquires a 10.6% stake in the French media company, Lagardère.