Vivendi play computer games as Universal profits slide

Vivendi had much to be happy about in its latest set of figures, announced today. Helped by its soaring computer games business, it posted profits of €3.58 billion (£3.23 billion) for the nine months to September - that not even counting the money it's making right now from Call Of Duty.

Universal, though, proved a little less glittering, with revenue in the third quarter of the year down 62% year-on-year. The glimmer, though, is that even this mismanaged behemoth in a business whose supernormal profits are evaporating, has managed to make profits of €269 million (£243 million) in the nine months to October. A quarter of a billion in profits. And yet this is a company supposedly being so damaged by piracy that it requires draconian legislation worldwide.