Billionaire Singer Gets Into an Italian Staring Match
The veteran telecoms executive has had a turbulent year at the helm of the former Italian national carrier. Singer’s activist fund, Elliott Management Corp., acquired a 9 percent stake in Telecom Italia and set about agitating for change. In April, it managed to oust most of the board appointees of Vivendi SA, the French media conglomerate that owns 24 percent of the shares, and replace them with a lineup of Elliott-backed directors.