Yahoo! had been discussing the acquisition of a 75% stake in Dailymotion with France Telecom, but French Industry Minister, Arnaud Montebourg, disapproved of the partnership with the American firm which lead the talks to collapse, according to Reuters.
Stephane Richard, chief executive at France Telecom, told a local newspaper that the state’s intervention on the issue was inappropriate.
“Dailymotion is a unit of France Telecom and not of the state,” he said.
“It is the company, its management and board that should manage this issue.”
Richard said that the company was not looking for financial backers for the website, but is instead looking for partners to develop it outside of Europe.
“We have looked at more than 60 possible partners in France and abroad before focussing on Yahoo!,” he said.
“Now we will restart our search.”
Earlier this month, France Telecom announced it was putting a greater emphasis on the deployment of 4G services in the country.
