Messier was ousted in July 2002.
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PARIS, France -- Jean-Marie Messier managed to turn an unglamorous water utility, the Compagnie Generale des Eaux, into Vivendi Universal -- the world's second largest media company.

But just as quickly, his empire began to crumble.

Messier had been seen as a charismatic leader, a CEO with an American-style "personality."

But his bravado riled many French, while massive losses at his company failed to please investors.

Messier was ousted in July 2002 after saddling Vivendi with debt of 19 billion euro following a two-year buying spree in Europe and North America.

Vivendi's share price was halved in 2002 and the company posted a loss of more than $12 billion -- the largest single loss in French corporate history.

The board replaced Messier with Jean-Rene Fourtou.

In December 2002, the Paris headquarters of Vivendi was raided by investigators and two of Messier's homes in the Paris area were searched.(Full story)

A year and a half later, the investigations are continuing. On Monday, Messier was taken into custody for questioning by French authorities. (Full story)

But at the time on his ouster, what really upset those in his homeland was Messier's American management style.

While Vivendi's chief executive, he lived and worked in New York. It was his relentless powerbroking across the Atlantic that led many to think he was distancing himself from the company's French cultural roots and its pay-TV arm, Canal Plus.

The French are extremely proud of Canal Plus, even though it has made a loss for several years. The channel is seen to epitomize French culture -- something the French are reluctant to put a price on.

Canal Plus not only brings football, films and music into French homes, it spends vast sums subsidizing home-grown movies.

As part of the French "cultural exception," which enables France -- along with other European countries -- to protect its creative industries from U.S. competition, Canal Plus legally must spend a portion of its turnover on French productions.

In 2001, Canal Plus drained nearly $450 million from Vivendi Universal's cash flow, and Messier had long felt that Canal Plus's obligations to support the "cultural exception" go too far in the context of a global market.

Then in April 2002, Messier fired Canal Plus chief Pierre Lescure, a move that caused outrage among French politicians and filmmakers.

Messier's comment that "the French cultural exception is dead" caused more of the same and likely marked the start of his demise.