Mobile phone giant Vodafone Group has bought out Vizzavi, its Internet joint venture with troubled media group Vivendi, for €142.7 million.
The much-touted move comes as Vivendi, the world's second-largest media company, struggles to stave off a cash crisis by selling off assets no longer deemed core.
Vizzavi was set up as a 50/50 joint venture two years ago, with both Vodafone and Vivendi investing an initial €1 billion.
The two sides were obligated to add a further €600 million into the loss-making hybrid mobile and Internet portal. However, Vivendi has invested only a total of €600 million to date. It would have been required to inject another €171 million, but announced earlier this month it would cease all future investment.
Under the original revenue-sharing deal, Vivendi was due to receive more than €300 million from Vizzavi. This payment will no longer be made following the sale of Vivendi's 50% stake.
Vizzavi was once considered central to ousted Vivendi CEO Jean-Marie Messier's media strategy of distributing the company's media content, including songs from Universal Music artists and movie trailers from its movie studios, to consumers across a variety of platforms, including the Web and mobile phones.
Media analysts recently dismissed Vizzavi as a worthless piece in Vivendi's vast media portfolio, parts of which the company is looking to sell off to ease its core debt load of €19 billion.
Removing Vivendi from the picture could breathe fresh life into the portal. A Vodafone spokeswoman said Vizzavi would be incorporated into its Vodafone Live service, a name given to a new suite of consumer data services that include picture messaging, to be launched this autumn.
