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In France, YouTube reached an agreement with three royalty-collecting entities to pay artists when their work is shown on the Website. The deal only covers content seen in France, Belgium and Luxembourg.

Google Inc. and publishing house Hachette Livre have reached a preliminary agreement to allow Google to make some of Hachette's out-of-print books available electronically. Hachette will determine which books Google can sell and the price at which they'll be sold.

More than a million protesters in France participated in strikes against the proposed raising of the nation's retirement age, a part of President Nicolas Sarkozy's agenda for reducing France's deficit. This was the country's fourth strike in a month, and affected the Eiffel Tower, schools, transportation, and ports.

A 1981 French law that protects booksellers from steep discounts is currently unable to protect them from e-books sold by large Internet retailers, as it contains the phrase 'printed volumes'. The law prohibits selling books at less than 5% lower than cover price, but e-books often sell for 25% below printed material.

France Telecom S.A.'s five-year plan to jumpstart growth includes adding 100 million new clients, renegotiating its sports-broadcasting rights, hiring 10,000 new employees in France, and doubling its revenue from emerging markets to about 7 billion euro.

French newspaper Le Monde will discuss the sale of a majority stake to businessmen Matthieu Pigasse, Xavier Niel and Pierre Berge for 110 million euro. Le Monde's journalist-owners voted against a rival offer from a group led by France Telecom S.A.

France Telecom S.A. has teamed up with Groupe SFA PAR and Spain's Promotora de Informaciones S.A. to issue a bid of between 80 million euro and 100 million euro for a 65% stake in French newspaper Le Monde. In addition, France Telecom is negotiating independently the acquisition of a stake in the newspaper's website LeMonde.fr.

In a move to become a major content provider, France Telecom S.A. is teaming up with Groupe SFA PAR to bid around 80 million euro for a 65% stake in newspaper publisher Le Monde S.A. France Telecom is offering to pay between 20 million euro and 25 million euro.

Because of falling circulation and ad revenue, French newspaper Le Monde's management plans to sell a majority stake in the company. Le Monde borrowed 25 million euro to finance its operations in 2009 and has 69 million euro in debt maturing between 2012 and 2014. Since 1951, the newspaper has been controlled by journalists.

Alcatel-Lucent S.A.'s first-quarter net loss widened to 515 million euro from a net loss of 402 million euro a year earlier. Revenue fell 9.8% to 3.25 billion euro from 3.6 billion euro. Article also discusses Alcatel-Lucent's sales by market, share value, and earnings outlook through 2011.

In a move to refocus its business on media content, conglomerate Lagardere SCA is negotiating the sale of its 20% stake in Canal Plus France to Vivendi S.A., which owns the rest of the pay-television company. The deal may be worth as much as 1.4 billion euro.

At the instance of investor Guy Wyser-Pratte, conglomerate Lagardere SCA's shareholders will vote on resolutions that would add Mr. Wyser-Pratte to Lagardere's supervisory board and change bylaws to narrow the company's focus to improve profitability. Lagardere's profit in 2009 plummeted 77% to 137 million euro.

After setting aside 550 million euro to cover possible legal expenses, Vivendi S.A. reports that net profit fell 68% to 830 million euro in 2009. Revenue rose 6.9% to 27.13 billion euro. Vivendi plans to invest in emerging markets to offset slow growth in the U.S. and Europe.

Emerging from bankruptcy protection, Technicolor S.A. - formerly known as Thomson S.A. - reports a net loss of 342 million euro for 2009, compared with a net loss of 1.93 billion euro in 2008. Full-revenue fell 14% to 3.53 billion euro.

In 2009, Publicis Groupe S.A.'s net profit fell 9.8% to 403 million euro, while revenue dropped 3.8% to 4.52 billion euro. Fourth-quarter revenue declined 5.4%, compared with a 7.4% drop a year earlier.

Part of a 35-billion-euro plan to boost the economy by improving infrastructure, France will invest 2 billion euro to update the country's high-speed Internet networks. France will spend a total of 4.5 billion euro on information and communications projects.

A French court ordered Google Inc. to pay 300,000 euro to French publisher La Martiniere for infringing its copyrights by posting online extracts of Martiniere's books. Google said it will appeal the case. Article discusses how the ruling will affect Google's efforts to create a global online library.

In interview, Vivendi S.A.'s chief executive Jean-Bertran Levy discusses his vision for the French media conglomerate, including bulking up the company's many units through acquisitions and investments in emerging markets. In the first nine months of 2009, Vivendi's earnings rose 10% to 19.5 billion euro.

Following Vivendi S.A.'s sale of its 20% stake in NBC Universal to General Electric Co. for $5.8 billion, GE is expected to transfer control of NBC Universal to Comcast Corp. after creating a joint venture that would include the television network, several other cable television networks, and the Universal Studios film company and theme parks. The resulting entity would surpass Time Warner Inc. and Walt Disney Co. with annual assets of about $51 billion.

An unconfirmed report that Vivendi S.A. has agreed to sell its 20% stake in NBC Universal to General Electric Co. for $5.8 billion caused Vivendi's share price to rise nearly 3% in Tuesday trading. When the Vivendi-GE dial is finalized, GE plans to transfer control of NBC Universal to Comcast Corp. The possible Comcast deal values NBC Universal at $30 billion.

General Electric Co. seeks to accelerate negotiations to acquire Vivendi S.A.'s 20% stake in NBC Universal. The companies are yet to agree on the value of the stake. GE owns 80% of NBC Universal.

Vivendi S.A. will buy Television Francaise 1 S.A.'s 9.9% stake in pay-television provider Canal Plus France for 744 million euro. The transaction raises Vivendi's stake in Canal Plus to 75% from 65%. Vivendi also offered to buy M6-Metropole Television S.A.'s stake of 5.1% in Canal Plus France.

Security technology firm Gemalto N.V.'s first-half sales inched up 1.2% to 800 million euro. The company plans to boost annual profit from operations to 300 million by 2013, more than a 50% increase from profit in 2009. The global security-card and electronic-passport market is expected to increase 9.9% between 2009 and 2010 to 5.4 billion units.

Alcatel-Lucent S.A.'s third-quarter net loss widened to 182 million euro from a net loss of 40 million euro a year earlier. Sales fell 9.3% to 3.68 billion euro. Alcatel says it is close to achieving its target of cutting costs by 750 million euro by year's end.

Vivendi S.A. has expressed interest in selling its 20% stake in film and television company NBC Universal, majority owned by General Electric Co. The value of NBC Universal has been reported in the range of $24 billion to $35 billion. The sale of the stake could be beneficial to GE and cable operator Comcast Corp.'s planned merger of NBC Universal and Comcast's television networks.

In a move to offset declining European sales by investing in emerging markets, Vivendi S.A. is bidding 2 billion euro to acquire Brazilian fixed-line operator GVT Holding S.A., which has 2.3 million customers and 4% market share in Brazil. GVT posted sales of $800 million in 2008.

Buoyed by growing demand for toiletries and cosmetics, L'Oreal S.A. reports a 2.6% second-quarter rise in sales to 4.39 billion euro. L'Oreal expects full-year sales to improve further, because of growing demand in emerging markets.

LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton S.A. reports a 23% first-half net profit drop to 687 million euro from 891 million euro a year earlier, and a 0.2% drop in sales to 7.8 billion euro. Sales of the Louis Vuitton brand rose 8% to 2.98 billion euro, watch and jewelry sales dropped 17% to 346 million euro, and sales at the wine-and-spirits unit fell 17% to 1 billion euro.

Fashion house Hermes International S.A. reports a second-quarter sales increase of 12% to 446.6 million euro and says it expects to meet its target of flat sales in 2009. The company did not report on its net profit. Sales at the leather-good division rose 33% to 228 million euro, but sales of watches fell 11%.

Fashion house Christian Lacroix SNC filed for bankruptcy protection in May, and, unless it finds a buyer by the end of the month, it'll be forced to reduce staff from 124 to 12. The label posted sales of 30 million euro last year, and a net loss of 10 million euro.

Boosted by strong sales of its Louis Vuitton brand, LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton S.A. reports an 11% first-quarter net profit rise to 1.59 billion euro. Revenue rose 0.4% to 4 billion euro.

Fashion house Hermes International S.A. reports a slight increase of 0.8% in 2008 net profit to 290.2 million euro. Full-year sales rose 8.6% to 1.76 billion euro. Article discusses Hermes's cost cuts, planned store openings and renovations, and expected earnings in 2009.

Undersea tunnel operator Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. reports a 9.2% drop in revenue to 704 million euro, and an increase in net profit from 1 million euro to 40 million euro for full fiscal year 2008. The company plans a dividend of four European cents per share. Eurotunnel suffered about 200 million euro in losses from a fire in one its tunnels.

Fashion house Hermes S.A. reports an 8.6% increase in sales to 1.76 billion euro in the fiscal year 2008. The company did not disclose net profit. Article discusses Hermes's sales by division, and expected sales in 2009.

Luxury goods retailer LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton S.A. reports a 4% sales increase to 17.2 billion euro, and flat profit of 2 billion euro for the fiscal year ended December 31. Fourth-quarter sales rose 4% to 5.2 billion euro. Article discusses LVMH's sales by corporate unit and market.

Boosted by revenue from the sale of assets, French resort operator Club Mediterranee S.A. reports a 2-million-euro profit for the fiscal year ended October 31. The previous year, the company had reported a net loss of 8 million euro. Club Med's sales increased 5.7% to 1.49 billion euro. Article discusses Club Med's per-bed revenue, capital expenditures on resort renovations, and plans to cut 31 million euro in costs in 2009.

Boosted by strong sales in Europe, electronic controls manufacturer Schneider Electric S.A. posts a 4.1% third-quarter revenue increase to 4.65 billion euro but expects demand in the near future to fall in key markets. The company's sales in the Asia-Pacific region rose 6.1% to 879 million euro, sales in Europe rose 9.1% to 2 billion euro, and sales in the U.S. grew by 1.9% to 1.3 billion euro. Citing an unstable global economy, the company will temporarily halt large-scale acquisitions. On Wednesday, Schneider's shares rose 8.2% to 44.14 euro on the Paris Stock Exchange.

French authorities question stock broker Manuel Zabraniecki as part of the investigation into bank Societe Generale S.A.'s $7.6 billion losses incurred by trader Jerome Kerviel. Article discusses the ongoing probe and business relations between Zabraniecki and Kerviel. Also, investor files lawsuit against Societe Generale over alleged misinformation of bank's exposure in subprime-mortgage crisis.

France's Fimalac S.A. has offered $338 mil to buy financial daily Les Echos from Pearson PLC, besting a bid by luxury goods firm LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton S.A. Journalists at Les Echos oppose a LVMH deal and support Fimalac's offer.

Luxury goods retailer LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton S.A. is currently in exclusive negotiations with Pearson PLC to purchase France's financial daily Les Echos. Another financial daily, La Tribune, is already owned by LVMH. The Les Echos deal would be valued at approximately $299 mil.