Vodafone pays £90m to Vivendi vis-à-vis Vizzavi

NEWS Vodafone has completed its long-anticipated purchase of Vivendi's share in the two companies' joint portal venture, Vizzavi. The mobile telecoms group is paying Vivendi £90.7m for its 50 per cent stake in the business. The deal does not include Vizzavi France, which is now wholly owned by Vivendi Universal. Vodafone said it will continue to focus Vizzavi's operations on providing multimedia entertainment-led consumer content. It will concentrate on increasing customer usage and to further integrate the operation into the Vodafone Group. Vodafone expects it to break even next year and says it will be of "particular importance" to the launch of its new consumer package, Vodafone Live!, later this year. Vodafone and Vivendi set up Vizzavi, which employs 450 people throughout Europe, with a £1bn investment two years ago.