Our story

  • 1945
    At the end of World War II, Marcel Chassagny founds Matra (Mécanique Aviation TRAction), a company focused on the defence industry.
  • 1963
    Jean-Luc Lagardère becomes Chief Executive Officer of Matra, which has diversified into aerospace and automobiles.
  • 1974
    Sylvain Floirat asks Jean-Luc Lagardère to head the Europe 1 radio network.
  • 1977
    Jean-Luc Lagardère is appointed Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Matra.
  • 1980
    Matra acquires the Hachette group, specialised in book publishing (Grasset, Fayard, Stock, etc.), magazines and newspapers (Elle, Le Journal du Dimanche, etc.) and distribution.
  • 1981
    The French State acquires a 51% interest in Matra (excluding Hachette). Europe 1 is sold to the French State via Sofirad.
    Jean-Luc Lagardère and Daniel Filipacchi are appointed Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hachette.
  • 1986
    Hachette regains control of Europe 1.
  • 10 February 1988
    Matra is privatised.
  • 30 December 1992
    Following the failure of French television channel La Cinq, Hachette is merged into Matra to form Matra-Hachette, and Lagardère Groupe, a French partnership limited by shares, is created as the umbrella company for the entire ensemble.
  • 1996
    Matra-Hachette is absorbed into Lagardère Groupe, which changes its name to Lagardère SCA.
  • 1999
    Aerospatiale Matra is created following the merger of Aerospatiale and Matra Hautes Technologies.
  • 2000
    The EADS consortium is formed following the merger of Aerospatiale Matra, CASA and DaimlerChrysler Aerospace.
  • 14 March 2003
    Death of Jean-Luc Lagardère.
  • 26 March 2003
    Arnaud Lagardère is appointed Managing Partner of Lagardère SCA.
  • 2004
    The Group acquires a portion of Vivendi Universal Publishing's French and Spanish assets.
  • 2007
    The Group reorganises around four major institutional brands: Lagardère Publishing, Lagardère Services (which became Lagardère Travel Retail in 2015), Lagardère Active and Lagardère Sports (which became Lagardère Sports and Entertainment in 2015).
  • 2011
    The Group sells its international magazine operations.
  • 2013
    The Group divests its remaining interest in EADS.
  • 2015-2019
    Acquisition of Paradies, Hojeij Branded Foods and International Duty Free (Travel Retail), and of Perseus Books, Bookouture, La Plage, Worthy Publishing Group and Short Books (Publishing), etc.
  • 2018-2020
    Rollout of the Group’s strategic refocusing around two priority divisions, Lagardère Publishing and Lagardère Travel Retail.