French top court strikes down Vivendi ruling, prolongs multi-billion buyout question

Vivendi SE

28/11/2025 13:11

PARIS, Nov 28 (Reuters) - France's top civil court on Friday overturned a ruling against the Bolloré family and ordered a retrial in a dispute over Vivendi VIV.PA ownership, prolonging uncertainty over whether the billionaire clan must initiate a buyout of minority shareholders.

The Cour de Cassation struck down an earlier appeals court decision that determined the family exercised "de facto control" over Vivendi after its 2024 breakup.

Rather than resolving the year-long dispute, the court referred the case to a different Paris appeals court, leaving open the possibility of a multi-billion-euro buyout.

(Reporting by Leo Marchandon and Gianluca Lo Nostro in Gdansk, Florence Loeve in Paris, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)

((leo.marchandon@thomsonreuters.com))