Upon the departure of René Pénisson, Stéphane Roussel is appointed as Vivendi’s Senior Executive Vice President Human Resources, and Jean-Bernard Lévy will become Chairman of Activision Blizzard

Paris, May 5, 2009

Upon the departure of René Pénisson, Stéphane Roussel is appointed as Vivendi’s Senior Executive Vice President Human Resources, and Jean-Bernard Lévy will become Chairman of Activision Blizzard

René Pénisson, a Member of the Management Board, Chairman of Activision Blizzard and Vivendi’s Director of Human Resources, is leaving Vivendi, at his request, to take retirement at the end of his current term of office.

René Pénisson, who joined Vivendi in 2002, was one of the main architects of Vivendi’s recovery and then its development, particularly in the video games business. The Supervisory Board and the Management Board have both expressed their gratitude to him for his essential contribution to Vivendi’s success.

Following his departure, Stéphane Roussel is appointed as Vivendi’s Senior Executive Vice President Human Resources, and Jean-Bernard Lévy, Chairman of the Management Board, will become Chairman of Activision Blizzard, the world’s leading independent games publishing company.

Until March 1, 2009, Stéphane Roussel was SFR’s Managing Director, Human Resources, having joined that company in July 2004. From 1997 to 2004, Stéphane Roussel worked for the Carrefour Group. First, he was appointed Director of Human Resources for hypermarkets in France (from 1997 to 2000) before becoming Director of Human Resources Development for the international business (from 2000 to 2002) and then Director of Human Resources France for the whole of the Carrefour Group (from 2002 to 2004).
From 1985 to 1997, Stéphane Roussel was employed by Xerox.
He is a graduate of the Paris College of Psychology (l’Ecole des Psychologues Praticiens).

About Vivendi

A world leader in communications and entertainment, Vivendi controls Activision Blizzard (#1 in video games worldwide), Universal Music Group (#1 in music worldwide), SFR (#2 in mobile and fixed telecom in France), Maroc Telecom Group (#1 in mobile and fixed telecom in Morocco), Canal+ Group (#1 in pay-TV in France and Poland) and owns 20% of NBCU (leading U.S. media and entertainment group).
In 2008, Vivendi achieved revenues of 25.4 billion euros and adjusted net income of 2.7 billion euros. With operations in 77 countries, the Group has about 44,000 employees.