Highflying Days Over for Vivendi?
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Vivendi Universal executives are about to get their wings clipped.
On Monday, three corporate jets owned by the ailing media giant will go on sale as part of an ongoing effort to cut lavish perks and unload assets.
Air Vivendi includes one Gulfstream V -- the gold standard for corporate jets -- based at Burbank Airport, not far from Vivendi’s Universal Studios operation. Also for sale are a Gulfstream IV and a Bombardier Global Express jet, which are kept in New York.
The company confirmed Friday that the sale starts next week but declined to comment further. What Vivendi will ask for the planes isn’t known. But various Internet sites price used Gulfstream Vs at more than $35 million each, with the Global Express jets in the same ballpark. The older Gulfstream IV models fetch a more modest $15 million to $20 million, the listings show.
The planes were inherited from Seagram Co. after France’s Vivendi and its former chief, Jean-Marie Messier, bought the company in 2000. In the wake of Messier’s ouster last year amid growing financial troubles, Vivendi Universal has been working to rid itself of luxuries, including an art collection and a 5,300-square-foot Manhattan apartment.
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