Vivendi: the legal dispute continues, despite Bolloré securing a win at the Supreme Court level

Vivendi: the legal dispute continues, despite Bolloré securing a win at the Supreme Court level

France’s Court of Cassation (the French Supreme Court) overturned the Paris Court of Appeal ruling that could have exposed Vincent Bolloré to multi-billion-euro compensation for Vivendi minority shareholders, but the case continues and goes back to the Court of Appeal. The central question is whether Bolloré exercised “de facto control” of Vivendi’s general meetings—an issue sharpened by Vivendi’s December 2024 break-up.

The Court held that de facto control must be assessed through voting rights held (including, potentially, jointly with his sons), rejecting both a broad “influence” approach and a purely mechanical majority-threshold test. The Court of Appeal must now decide, in practical terms, whether those voting rights determined outcomes, going beyong simply looking at if Bolloré Group holds more than 50% of the voting rights.