Arnaud Lagardère, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Lagardère group, announces several appointments at the Lagardère group and at Lagardère News

© François Roelants – CANAL+

Within the Lagardère group, Michel Sibony has been appointed Special Advisor to the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, in charge of purchasing and performance. Reporting to Arnaud Lagardère, his responsibilities include purchasing management and developing synergies within the Group, including through partnerships. He retains his current positions within the Bolloré, Vivendi and Canal+ groups.

After studying accounting and working in industry for 13 years, Michel Sibony joined the Bolloré group in 2002 as Purchasing Director. He now holds a number of positions as Managing Director and sits on the Executive Committee. In 2016, Michel Sibony was appointed Chief Value Officer of the Vivendi group. He is involved in all of the Group’s projects, and his executive role covers a wide range of activities, including developing national and international strategic partnerships. He is also a member of the executive committees of the Vivendi group, the Canal+ group and Dailymotion.

At Lagardère News, Gérald-Brice Viret has been appointed Special Advisor for Media (excluding the Lagardère Radio unit, which is controlled by Arnaud Lagardère). In this role, he will report to Maxime Saada, Vice-President of the Lagardère group. He will also retain his position as Chief Executive Officer of Canal+ France, in charge of Programming and Channels.

Gérald-Brice Viret holds a master’s degree in Film, Television and New Media from Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne university. He began his career as a journalist on a number of local channels, and was subsequently appointed head of the TV divisions of the Pathé (1996), NRJ (2006) and Lagardère (2013) groups, before joining the Canal+ group in 2015. At the same time, he also chaired terrestrial digital TV industry body Groupement TNT as well as Acces, a trade group promoting pay-TV offerings within the French audiovisual space. In November 2022, Gérald-Brice Viret was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Canal+ France, in charge of Programming and Channels. He sits on the Executive Committee of the Canal+ group.

© Ludovic Baron – CANAL+

Serge Nedjar has been appointed Special Advisor for News, reporting to Gérald-Brice Viret. Serge Nedjar will also remain Chief Executive Officer of French 24-hour news channel CNEWS.

Having studied economics at Paris-Panthéon Assas university, Serge Nedjar began his career at French daily newspaper Le Matin de Paris. In 1984, he joined the magazine VSD as advertising manager and then sales director for classified ads. Having headed up various local editions and special issues, in 1996, he helped found GS Presse, a French press publisher behind a number of magazines and publications. In 2005, he joined the Bolloré group to launch and run free dailies Direct Soir and Direct Matin. Within the Canal+ group, Serge Nedjar has been Chief Executive Officer of CNEWS since 2016.