PARIS -- Vivendi Universal SA plans to take a charge of as much as €10 billion ($9.78 billion) against its second-quarter earnings to account for a further depreciation of its assets amid the steep fall of media-company stocks, people familiar with the matter said.

At the behest of France's stock-market watchdog, the media and utility conglomerate also may clarify the potential impact on its debt of off-balance-sheet liabilities it incurred from the aggressive deal making of its former chairman, Jean-Marie Messier. As part of its month-old investigation into Vivendi, the agency is looking at whether the company properly accounted for and disclosed the liabilities.

The large goodwill-impairment charge will force Vivendi to report a big loss for the quarter, offsetting what are expected to be solid operating earnings from its various subsidiaries, which range from a Hollywood studio to a telecommunications firm. Vivendi is slated to announce the results and the charge Wednesday. A spokeswoman for the company declined to comment.

The charge will be Vivendi's second big quarterly write-down in a row. In late April, when Mr. Messier was still at Vivendi's helm, the company booked a goodwill write-off of €17.06 billion against its first-quarter earnings under U.S. accounting standards, causing it to report a €17 billion loss for the quarter.

A big chunk of the latest write-down is to account for the depreciation in the value of the USA Networks film and television businesses Vivendi agreed to acquire late last year, as part of Mr. Messier's shopping spree to transform the company from a utility into a media giant.

Under the terms of that acquisition, which closed in May, Vivendi valued the USA Networks businesses at $10.3 billion. But, with the recent slump in media stocks, analysts now deem those assets, ranging from U.S. cable channels to TV and film production studios, to be valued at only about $7 billion.

Vivendi also is expected to write down the value of its Internet and fixed-line telecommunications businesses and may further write down the value of Canal Plus Group ahead of the pay-TV unit's planned stock-market flotation in 2003. Canal Plus already accounted for by far the biggest chunk of Vivendi's first-quarter write-down.

Jean-Rene Fourtou, the former pharmaceuticals-industry executive who succeeded Mr. Messier last month, is eager to clean up Vivendi's books before he sets out to sell assets in the fall to lighten the company's heavy debt load, people close to the company said.

Excluding the debt carried by its utility arm, Vivendi reported a net debt of €17.1 billion for the end of March -- a product of Mr. Messier's buying binge. Analysts don't expect a major reduction in that figure, as asset disposals Vivendi made in the second quarter were offset by extra debt incurred from the USA deal.

Mr. Fourtou may use Wednesday's earnings presentation as an opportunity to clarify how much Vivendi's off-balance-sheet liabilities could add to its already massive debt, the people close to the company said. Although the company is thought to have disclosed all of these liabilities in its 2001 annual report, it hasn't given a clear indication of their total potential cost.

Vivendi has said put options it sold on some of its shares last year, along with a cash payment it must make to two music-industry executives early next year, could add €1.5 billion to its debt load. However, it has remained mum about the potential impact of several other liabilities listed in the annual report.

Among them are: put options held by the governments of Morocco and Monaco that, if exercised, would force Vivendi to buy out the shares of Morocco Telecom and Monaco Telecom it doesn't own; guarantees of bonds and water contracts for Vivendi Environment SA, Vivendi's 40%-owned water utility; and vendor financing arrangements in connection with a third-generation wireless license in Spain.

If they come due, these off-balance-sheet liabilities could seriously complicate Vivendi's efforts to avoid a cash crunch. Analysts' estimates of how much they could add to Vivendi's debt range from €2.5 billion to €8 billion.

After more than a month of protracted negotiations with Vivendi's lenders, Mr. Fourtou still hasn't secured a €2.8 billion short-term credit line the company needs to get through to the end of the year. And Vivendi is facing debt repayments of as much as €6 billion over the next 12 months.

Write to John Carreyrou at john.carreyrou@wsj.com⁶

Updated August 13, 2002