For the second time, French government seems to have prevented Orange’s video portal Dailymotion falling into the hands of a foreign company.
The board of Orange is meeting today, April 7, to consider a EUR 250 million offer from Vivendi to buy 100% of video portal Dailymotion, according to Les Echos. Meanwhile, Vivendi has confirmed it had made an offer for Dailymotion without disclosing any further details.
At the same time, Hong Kong-based PCCW said in a statement that it has given up its plans to acquire a 49% share of Dailymotion. The company has recently been talking to Orange about such an investment.
“An environment where policies appear favor a French or European solution is discouraging for international business participation,” PCCW said in a statement. “We will therefore withdraw our discussions with Dailymotion and its current owners.”
Orange CEO Stéphane Richard has been looking at a strategic partner for some time, but has met with political resistance to sell part of the business to a foreign company.
In 2013 Yahoo! had to give up its attempt to acquire a controlling stake in France Telecom’s video portal Dailymotion following intervention by the French government.
