Vivendi secures windfall on completion of Beats deal

French media giant Vivendi’s Unversal Music Group subsidiary has completed the sale of its stake in headphones and streaming audio provider Beats to Apple.

The sale of the 13% stake netted US$404 million (€300 million) for Vivendi.

Vivendi’s announcement marks the completion of Apple’s US$3 billion acquisition of Beats, following last’s week’s approval of the deal by EC and US competition regulators.

Vivendi is currently in the process of selling US$30 billion of assets, including its proposed US$23 billion sale of French telco SFR to cable operator Numericable, as it refocuses its activities on media.