Cnet reports Media giant Vivendi Universal revealed a loss of more than $12 billion for the
first half of the year on Wednesday.
Shares in the debt-laden company plunged 20 percent to a multiyear low by mid-afternoon after credit-rating agency Standard & Poor’s slashed its credit and debt ratings to “junk” status, citing weak cash flow forecasts for the second half. New management said it would sell U.S. publisher Houghton Mifflin to help contain a cash crisis.
