2023-11-16 17:21:47
Around 9:30 a.m., the large hall of Editis headquarters was full this Wednesday, November 15. From distribution, marketing, publishing, hundreds of employees flocked to discover the new direction given to the parent company of Robert Laffont, Julliard, Nathan and around fifty other brands…
It was up to Denis Olivennes, former boss of Fnac, to fix it. It was he, in fact, who was appointed to the presidency of the group by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, who formally became the new shareholder on Tuesday November 14.
Applause from employees
The arrival of Denis Olivennes at the head of the second French publisher puts an end to a series that began almost two years ago with the announcement by Vivendi, its former shareholder, to absorb Lagardère, parent company of Hachette Books, the market leader. The project, which would have led to too much concentration in the sector, was made conditional by the European Commission on a sale of Editis. It is now done, but after a long wait, conducive to numerous conjectures on the scenario of the sale, the identity of the buyer or his strategy.
In such a context, Denis Olivennes wanted to reassure. Massively applauded by employees, he achieved his objective according to several sources. “I give it 19 out of 20, testifies an editor. He recalled that Daniel Kretinsky was a very financially solid shareholder and that he was keen on the independence of the houses, that there must be room for all voices. »
A response to an initial concern about the role of the shareholder which echoes that of Hachette Livres, about to pass into the hands of Vivendi, owned by the Bolloré family. And if the Breton businessman sought to leave his ideological mark as he did with Canal+ or the Sunday newspaper ? we ask ourselves.
End of the “reign of the arbitrary”
The intervention of Denis Olivennes also signed a ” back to normal “according to the same source, after several years of governance criticized for its lack of collegiality. “It was the reign of the arbitrary”she recalls.
In this respect, the appointment of Catherine Lucet as general manager brings relief. At the head of the education division and deputy general director of Editis before her departure in October 2022, she also enjoys strong professional legitimacy. A quality denied by several employees to Michèle Benbunan, who gave way to her. In particular, he is criticized for paying too much attention to the possibilities of synergies between books and audiovisual media from the Vivendi galaxy.
In an email to employees, Catherine Lucet committed to “be the general manager of the entire company”. And she has surrounded herself with a trio, which is made up of Dalila Zein, former director general of AFP, whose role will notably be to supervise finance and who at the same time takes the presidency of the distributor Interforum; Marie-Christine Conchon, formerly of Editis, in charge of general public publishing activities and who becomes general secretary of literature; and Pascale Rus, human resources.
Catherine Lucet has arranged to meet with employees at the start of next year to “share a first roadmap”.
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