Vivendi woes to cost Malone $1bn

NEWS US cable king John Malone is set to lose nearly $1bn thanks to the travails at Vivendi. Liberty Media, Malone's investment vehicle, agreed a deal for stock in Vivendi last December, but since then Jean-Marie Messier's company has halved in value. Malone - at number 18 in silicon.com's Agenda Setters 2002 list (http://www.silicon.com/as2002 ), had stood to make $1.9bn from the sale of media assets to Vivendi, but the company's share price has fallen to such an extent that he'll lose around $1bn. Messier - himself in our Agenda Setters list - is coming under increasing pressure from unhappy shareholders, and could face calls to resign.