Agnès Touraine has been promoted to president and CEO of Vivendi Universal Publishing. Touraine, who had previously been vice-president, will preside over the group, which reported sales of 3.6 billion euros in 2000 (about $3.35 billion at the time). With recent divestments in professional and medical publishing, offset only in part by the integration of Houghton Mifflin, sales are currently running at the rate of 3.3 billion euros per year (about $3 billion at the present exchange rate). Henceforth, 50% of VUP turnover will derive from the United States (the balance from Europe and Latin America). In a statement, Touraine stressed the importance of the American market—representing one third of the world's publishing business—and also promised that more acquisitions were in the cards, together with an expansion of electronic publishing, enabling Vivendi to offer its content and services via a broad variety of platforms.
In other news, Sylvia Metayer, who has been chief financial officer for Vivendi Universal Publisher's games, education and literature divisions, has been appointed executive vice-president and COO of Houghton Mifflin and will be based in Boston.
