2023-06-09 23:45:36
The European Commission gave the green light on Friday. Vivendi, the group of billionaire Vincent Bolloré, is now authorized to take over its former rival Lagardère, on the condition of selling its publishing subsidiary and le magazine Gala. This decision, announced by press release, was essential for competition issues. Lagardère owns the world’s third-largest publisher, Hachette Livre, and the merger could drastically limit competition in the book market in France.
Vivendi has therefore undertaken to sell Editis, the number two French publisher acquired in 2019, which brings together around fifty houses including Robert Laffont, Nathan, Le Robert and Pocket. Vivendi “concluded a promise to purchase with International Media Invest as on April 23,” the group recalled in a press release. Behind the buyer is another billionaire, the Czech Daniel Kretinsky.
The other promise is to divest the weekly celebrity news Gala. This title “is already the subject of many expressions of interest”, Vivendi pointed out, without further details. The group thinks “to be able to finalize these two operations by the end of October”.
Discount on Editis
These commitments “fully respond to the competition problems identified by the Commission” in its investigation, judged the European executive. Brussels feared that the operation, as initially planned, “would harm competition” in publishing throughout the book value chain, where Editis and Hachette almost single-handedly share certain segments, as well as in the magazine press, where Lagardère is well established with the weekly Paris Match.
Vincent Bolloré and his children, who control Vivendi and its cascade of holdings, had agreed in the summer of 2022 to offload Editis. An opportunity seized by Daniel Kretinsky, increasingly present in the media (Le Monde, Elle, France Dimanche, Ici Paris, Marianne, among others) and distribution (Fnac Darty, Casino). According to Yannick Bolloré in April, the buyer negotiated a price “close” to the estimate of financial analysts, between 500 and 600 million euros. This is a significant discount compared to the 829 million euros paid in 2019.
The Commission estimated in a press release that the divested assets “constitute a viable activity which would allow a potential buyer to compete effectively” with Vivendi merged with Lagardère. “The Commission’s decision is subject to full compliance with the commitments entered into”, and the implementation of the transfers will be controlled “by an independent agent under the supervision of the Commission”. It will assess “buyer suitability” under a separate approval process.
Refocusing on media and publishing
In an interview with Le Figaro online this Friday, Yannick Bolloré, Chairman of Vivendi’s Supervisory Board, believes that, thanks to this merger, “the Lagardère group will be globally consolidated in Vivendi’s accounts”, including “the turnover will increase from 9.6 billion euros to 16.5 billion euros and (the) workforce from 38,315 employees to 65,698”, to reach a “weight of international at 63%” of turnover, “versus 54% previously”.
The conquest of Lagardère is a key step in the refocusing of the Bolloré family on media and publishing. With Hachette Livre, which owns houses such as Grasset, Fayard, Stock or Calmann-Lévy, Vivendi will be able to compete with the German Bertelsmann, a family group combining books and audiovisual.
Vivendi had launched its assault in early 2020, when the former industrial and media empire Lagardère was at its worst. Weakened by the Covid-19 pandemic, he had a boss and heir Arnaud Lagardere desperate, heavily in debt and sued by an activist fund, Amber Capital. In a message to his employees, Arnaud Lagardère was pleased to work from now on with a “friend, Vincent Bolloré, so unfairly taken to task lately”.
The latter is regularly criticized for his right-wing political views. His critics believe that he will impose them on the publishing houses of Hachette Livre and the media of Lagardère. Heard at the start of 2022 by senators worried about his growing influence, Bolloré had rejected any accusation of interventionism. “I don’t do politics,” he proclaimed. The news comes shortly before the general meeting of the Bolloré family holding company, Compagnie de l’Odet, scheduled for June 14.
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