French media magnate Jean-Marie Messier headed off talk of a board mutiny Wednesday yet was snubbed by Vivendi shareholders who refused to hand him new stock options after seeing their own shares decline, report Merissa Marr and Nathalie Meistermann of Reuters. Shareholders in the global media group, which owns Universal Studios, threw out the controversial stock option plan after a rowdy four-hour meeting in which France's top corporate star was repeatedly booed following steep losses and a plunge in shares. Messier had pressed for the right to issue new stock options to senior managers, including himself, saying it would otherwise be impossible to attract and keep talent at the world's second largest media firm after AOL Time Warner. He had promised not to exercise any of his own options unless Vivendi shares recovered sharply.