Vivendi's Fourtou said in the statement: "Upon the closing of this transaction, Vivendi Universal will have achieved its asset divestiture program goal of selling 16 billion euros of assets by the end of 2004." The group was hoping to secure $US14 billion ($A21.76 billion) from the sale of VUE, which has a value of $US15 billion ($A23.31 billion) on its balance sheet. Although the deal does not mark Vivendi's full exit from the vast US media market, it puts an end to the French company's ambitions to rival AOL Time Warner, the biggest media conglomerate in the world.