Israeli businessman Amos Genish was vital to Vivendi SA’s successful foray in Brazil a few years ago. Now the French media company has turned to him to create a single platform for digital, content and media distribution services, something its rivals are struggling to do.
Credited for pioneering the adoption of digital services at the helm of two Brazilian phone companies, Genish, 56, could engage in partnerships with mobile carriers as a way to channel Vivendi’s videos, songs and games to consumers across Europe more easily, reports Reuters.
His appointment this week as Vivendi’s first chief convergence officer comes as global media companies bet on megadeals to increase their presence in entertainment-rich regions like the Americas, Europe and Asia while struggling to make efficient use of their digital capabilities and content.
Genish’s ties with Spain’s Telefónica SA, which he competed against and then presided over in Brazil until November, could prove useful for Vivendi to disseminate content in other countries without having to acquire phone carriers, analysts said.
“This will be a trump card for Vivendi in the forging of new partnerships with global carriers,” Natixis analyst Jerôme Bodin said. “In particular, he knows Telefónica and its Latin American businesses inside out.”
Genish’s new role, integrating all the content that Vivendi’s platforms produce and delivering it efficiently to customers, exemplifies how global media companies are responding to digital rivals such as Netflix Inc and Amazon.com Inc.
“Now it seems there is an organic strategy that aims to create value through making the existing platform more efficient, and not only through acquisitions,” said João Moura, head of Brazilian industry group Telcomp.
Controlled by French billionaire Vincent Bolloré, Vivendi wants to become one of Europe’s dominant media companies. Founded as a water utility during the reign of Napoleon III, it reshaped itself after embarking on a whirlwind of acquisitions and asset sales in the late 1990s.
Vivendi owns France’s No. 1 pay TV service Canal+, music label Universal Music Group and YouTube competitor Dailymotion. It also controls large stakes in Italy’s Mediaset SpA and Telecom Italia SpA.
