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Nourry 'would not accept any break-up of Hachette Livre'
Hachette Livre chairman and c.e.o. Arnaud Nourry has warned that he would not stand by and watch the publishing house being carved up by the shareholders of parent company Lagardère.
“I will not allow anyone to wreck Hachette Livre,” he told French economic daily Les Echos. “I could not accept any move approaching a break-up.” he added. The publisher “is fine” with Lagardère, having been its subsidiary for 40 years. “If it is necessary to invent a slightly different life for Hachette, I shall devote all my brainpower to it, and if there is a battle… I shall lead it and I shall win.”
Reports have suggested that chief Arnaud Lagardère, his ally LVMH chief Bernard Arnault and rival Vivendi chief Vincent Bolloré were negotiating to break up the group. Last November, BFM TV reported that talks about hiving off Hachette’s overseas publishing interests to Vivendi and leaving its domestic interests intact had been under way for several weeks.
Presenting the group’s annual results for 2020 last week, Arnaud Lagardère — whose mandate was renewed for a further four years last August — was reported by the Le Monde to have said that no decision had been taken about the group’s future. He indicated he wanted Lagardère to remain unchanged. But he added that he was open to the idea of renouncing his special status as group head, despite his minority stake.
Lagardère’s status and the group’s overall poor performance are behind Bolloré’s and Amber Capital’s push to change the management structure. The group’s loss of ‚Ǩ660m last year complicates the task of the antagonist shareholders, the weekly magazine Marianne commented. The publishing arm has fared better than the rest of the group for some time. It reported a revenue drop last year of only 0.8% on a like-for-like basis, against a 38% fall for the group.
Separately, the French government has decreed that bookshops could remain open if there is another lockdown. They were shut during the first two lockdowns, since books were not considered essential items.
