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Dailymotion staying VousTube thanks to Vivendi offer

The Gallic rooster keeps on strutting

Dailymotion, France's YouTube-botherer-in-chief, looks set to be bought by Vivendi after a Gallic government intervention.

On Tuesday morning French media borg Vivendi confirmed it has made an offer for one of the world's biggest video-hosting websites, after news that Hong Kong-based telecoms company PCCW had pulled out of talks with parent company Orange.

Paris-based Vivendi did not confirm how much it was prepared to fork out, but French media reports suggest it is around €250m.

All of which will make the French government very happy. PCCW was scared off after the government, which holds a 24.9 per cent stake in Orange, made it very clear it wants Dailymotion to stay in French hands.

French Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron said that “all options” should be explored before selling Dailymotion to a non-European company.

PCCW had been looking at buying 49 per cent of Dailymotion, but French daily Le Monde, which broke the news, speculated that Vivendi would buy “almost all” of the distraction site.

Dailymotion boasts 128 million monthly unique visitors and more than 2.5 billion video views every month. French multinational mass media company Vivendi owns pay-tv channel Canal Plus, as well as Universal Music Group.

When contacted by The Register this morning, Vivendi made no additional comment, and re-sent its original press release. It also said it would be making no comment on the price speculation.

France is famously protective of its cultural heritage and this is not the first time it has intervened in the possible sale of Dailymotion. In 2013 it blocked a bid by Yahoo! ®

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