, Columnist
Bollore's Chaos Brings Rewards
Vivendi's power-grab could reward Telecom Italia investors
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The chaos created by Vincent Bollore when he targets a company can be hard to endure. But Telecom Italia's shareholders have declared allegiance to the French corporate raider, betting they can benefit from his presence. They may be right.
Bollore-chaired Vivendi, owner of 20.5 percent of Telecom Italia, scored a big win on Tuesday by scuppering the phone company's effort to simplify its structure and save money by eliminating an archaic dual-class system. Not only did Vivendi avoid being diluted to about 13 percent of total shares, Bollore's gambit to place four directors on the board of Telecom Italia also succeeded by a slim majority.