Profile

Created in 1992, Lagardère is an international group with operations in more than 40 countries worldwide. It employs over 30,000 people and generated revenue of €7,211 million in 2019. Under the impetus of the Group’s General and Managing Partner, Arnaud Lagardère, the Group launched a strategic refocusing around two priority divisions:

Lagardère Publishing is the world’s third‑largest book publisher for the general public and educational markets, and the leader in France. Alongside some 6,900 employees, it creates 17,000 original publications each year as well as contributing to their broader circulation by innovating with digital and mobile reading formats. Lagardère Publishing’s activities also extend to adjacent businesses such as Mobile Games and Board Games.

Lagardère Travel Retail, is the world’s fourth largest travel retail merchant, with operations in three segments of this very dynamic field: Travel Essentials, Duty Free & Fashion, and Foodservice. Lagardère Travel Retail has 25,000 employees across an international network of more than 4,800 points of sale in around one thousand airports, mainline and urban train stations.

The Group’s business scope also includes Lagardère News (Paris Match, Le Journal du Dimanche, Europe 1, RFM, Virgin Radio and the Elle brand licence) together with Lagardère Live Entertainment. The Lagardère Studios unit is in the process of being sold.
Through this strategic refocusing, the Lagardère group is investing in its two strategic divisions with the aim of creating global leaders over the long term.
Lagardère shares are listed on Euronext Paris.

  • 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.