In 1994, Jean-Marie Messier, a French businessman, had a dream. He would transform a 150-year-old French water company into one of the world#s leading media empires. Over the next eight years he spent $100 billion building Vivendi Universal. By 2002, Vivendi Universal straddled the Atlantic. Its interests included music, publishing, telecom, TV, cinema, theme parks, water supply, video games, commuter trains, the Internet and waste management. But as quickly as the empire rose, it came crashing down and Messier finally fell in July 2002 in a boardroom coup sanctioned by the financial markets that once worshipped him. Jo Johnson and Martine Orange#s dazzling portrait of one of today#s most brilliant and flawed businessmen is a real life morality tale of our times. It also goes beyond the story of one man#s hubris and provides a gripping insight into the changing face of international business in the global economy.