French minister under fire for saying ‘Non’ to Yahoo!

France 24

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A decision by France’s Socialist minister for industrial renewal, Arnaud Montebourg, to block Yahoo!’s plans to buy a majority stake in video-sharing website Dailymotion is dominating the front pages in France – and for all the wrong reasons.

Since the Wall Street Journal broke the story, French politicians and businessmen alike have been lining up to pour scorn on Montebourg’s decision, accusing the government of interference despite his protestations that the US firm was seeking to "devour" the popular French video site.

Yahoo! had been negotiating the purchase of a 75 percent stake in Dailymotion, but Montebourg had insisted on a 50-50 division.

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