Vivendi and entrepreneur Xavier Niel group each filed a bid on Dailymotion, the online video site owned by France Telecom-Orange, reported Friday, May 3 Wansquare.
According to the website, which does not specify its sources, the leaders of Vivendi Thursday expressed their counterparts in France Telecom's interest in Dailymotion to increase the content part and the diversified media group. Wansquare added that holding the Free World, which brings together the interests of Matthew Pigasse, Xavier Niel, founder of Iliad and Pierre Bergé in Le Monde, also formalized an offer the same day.
New candidates
No comments could be obtained immediately from Xavier Niel while Vivendi declined to comment on the information. The Arnaud Montebourg intervention that has scuppered a proposed merger of Dailymotion with giant Yahoo, Thursday caused a stir in France and tensions in the Ministry of Economy.
In Le Figaro on Friday, Stéphane Richard, CEO of France Telecom believes that this intervention has not deterred all contenders. "Instead, I even received new proposals from the European media giants," he said, without elaborating.
