The group controlled by the Bolloré family wants to sell the parent company of Plon and Robert to the Czech billionaire. Brussels must still give its approval.
Pair Olivier Ubertalli
© JOEL SAGET / AFP
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Et the winner is…. neither Quebecor, nor Reworld Media, nor Pierre Édouard Stérin, nor the audiovisual producer Stéphane Courbit, but… Daniel Kretinsky! The Czech billionaire, already owner of the weeklies Elle et Marianne and indirect shareholder of the daily The world and which granted a loan of 14 million euros to Releasehas entered into exclusive negotiations with the French media giant Vivendi with a view to acquiring 100% of Editis.
The second largest French publishing group is home to some fifty publishers, including Plon, Robert Laffont, Julliard, Les Presses de la cité, Le Cherche-Midi, XO, Pocket and 10/18 paperback formats, and Nathan and Bordas in the school. At the end of July, the parent company Vivendi, owner of Editis since 2019, had warned that it would sell the company in order to seize Hachette Livre (Grasset, Fayard, Calmann-Lévy, Stock, Le Livre de poche, Lattès, Hatier ). The publishing group’s turnover fell by 8% in 2022, to 789 million euros, for an operating profit (Ebita) down to 31 million euros, against 51 million in 2021. Vivendi recently had to devalue Editis by 300 million euros in its 2022 accounts, to take into account the difference between the acquisition value of Editis (bought for 829 million euros) and the “low price level offered by potential buyers “, had specified Arnaud de Puyfontaine, chairman of the management board of Vivendi.
We knew Daniel Kretinsky had been very motivated for several months by the takeover of Editis. An operation for which Denis Olivennes, chairman of the supervisory board of the press group CMI France, which houses, in addition to Elle et Marianne, sniper, TV 7 days and D’Usbek & Rica. Former boss of Lagardère Active, Denis Olivennes hosts a program on Public Sénat entitled At the Happiness of Books. Daniel Kretinsky, a Francophile who wishes to earn his place within the French establishment, has, according to our information, met Vincent Bolloré. The current passed very well between the two men. In a press release, the Czech businessman said: “I am very happy and proud of the possibility of becoming a shareholder of a publishing flagship like Editis if the process comes to an end. I am aware of the responsibilities that such an acquisition implies given the quality of the companies that make up the group and their place in French intellectual history. Already present in the press, we would then also be present in publishing with the same principles: a long-term vision, a logic of development, a demand for quality, the concern to highlight the teams and to promote the content. respecting the French religious exception. »
Remarks intended to reassure both the employees of Editis, worried for several months about their future, and the European Commission, which is examining the takeover by Vivendi of Lagardère, parent company of Hachette Livre, and which is calling for a solid buyer for Editis . After months of discussions with the Commission, Vivendi has therefore resolved to sell Editis in full in order to seize the publishing juggernaut Hachette, a subsidiary of Lagardère. It now remains for Brussels to say whether it considers this “remedy” sufficient. In addition to the concentration in publishing, the European Commission is also concerned about a possible dominant position of Vivendi in people magazines. The group controlled by the Bolloré family already owns Gala et Here isLagardère owning Paris Match. It remains to be seen whether Vivendi will attempt to validate the acquisition of Lagardère as it stands or whether it will commit to selling one of these three people magazines.
Our series on the publishing big bang
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How Vincent Bolloré and Vivendi shook up Editis
Nicolas Sarkozy and “the hatred of the Germanopratins”
When the name of Vincent Bolloré paralyzes the French edition
Big money and infidelities: the mercato of writers
Antoine Gallimard and Le Goncourt: suspicions, glories and fantasies
READ ALSOTF1, “Le Monde”, “Le Figaro”, “Marianne”… What Daniel Kretinsky wants