Vivendi plans to separate into four companies, in lieu of the three previously announced, including an as-yet-unnamed publishing company that would group Vivendi’s nearly 57.3% majority stake in Lagardère, the parent company of Hachette Livre, with the assets of Prisma Media, which is primarily a magazine publisher, and Vivendi’s retail travel brand. The other three companies will be the film and TV company Canal +; Havas, an advertising and communications conglomerate; and a new investment company. The plan is to list each of these on the stock market.
Vivendi completed its majority acquisition of Lagardère last year after selling off French book publisher Editis, which it bought in 2019, in response to demands from the European Union. In all, Lagardère has 27,000 employees spread across 40 countries; it is the third largest trade and education publisher in the world by sales, number one in France, and number two in the U.K. Lagardère’s consolidated revenue for 2022, the last year for which figures are available, hit $7.42 billion, up some 29% over 2021. Vivendi has projected that its annual revenues would reach approximately $18 billion in 2023.
Late last year, in a major restructuring, Hachette Livre, the book publishing arm of Lagardère Group, brought together Hachette Book Group and its U.K.-based counterpart, Hachette U.K., under a new English-language management structure. This put HUK CEO David Shelley in charge of the U.S. division as well, giving him the CEO role for both HBG in New York and HUK, while former HBG CEO Michael Pietsch was moved into the position of chairman at HBG. Shelley reports to Hachette Livre deputy CEO Stéphanie Ferran and Arnaud Lagardère, chairman and CEO of Hachette Livre.
