French publishing company La Martinière was founded in 1992 by Hervé de la Martinière with an initial focus on illustrated photography, heritage, art, and leisure books, and has since expanded to general trade books. La Martinière acquired Seuil in 2004.
Publishers under the La Martinière Groupe include Editions de La Martinière, Delachaux et Niestlé, Hermé, Seuil, Points, L’Olivier (90%), Le Sorbier, A.-M. Métailié (80%), Don Quichotte, Raconter la Vie, and Editions du Sous-Sol. La Martinière also holds minority stakes in Zulma (6%) and Esprit.
An increased share of La Martinière’s revenues come from international holdings such as Abrams (USA) and Knesebeck (Germany).
In early 2010, La Martinière partnered with Gallimard and Flammarion to launch an e-book platform called Eden Livres.
Analysis & Key Developments
Financial
As a privately owned company, La Martinière releases no other financial information than its annual revenues which, between 2007 and 2010 have shown steady growth, yet a consecutive drop of 9.2% in 2011 against the previous year, and of 9.8% in 2013 against 2012. Results in 2014 were on par with 2013.
In early 2014, the holding which controls La Martinière, has augmented the group’s capital by some 138% to a total of 8 million Euros, according to Livres Hebdo.
Internal organization
In 2013, La Martinière cut down on releases by 30% and laid off 19 employees.
International
In 2011, La Martinière took over the entire stock of the German publisher Knesebeck, of which it had held a majority stake since 2000.
Digital
In August 2011, La Martinière signed an agreement with Google to digitize of its out of print catalogue, five years after suing Google for its library digitization efforts.
La Martinière was among the first French publishers to sign up for Apple’s iBookstore in July 2011.
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