The European Commission has given the green light under condition » the takeover of the Lagardère group, which notably owns Hachette in publishing, but also Paris Match or Europe 1 by another French media giant: the Vivendi group, whose main shareholder is none other than the Breton billionaire Vincent Bolloré.
Brussels took a dim view of the distortion of competition caused by the merger of the two groups. Vivendi therefore had to make concessions, agree to separate from the magazine Gala considered a direct competitor to Paris Match, or even and especially of the publishing house Editis, because the Lagardère group owns the third world publisher Hachette Livre. The Commission estimated in a press release that the assets sold “ constitute a viable business that would allow a potential buyer to compete effectively Vivendi merged with Lagardère.
The Editis group is France’s number 2 and brings together no less than fifty publishing houses. Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky has made the purchase, but he will have to wait for a later decision from the European competition authorities. “ 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 trustee under the supervision of the Commission “. He will assess buyer suitability under a separate approval process.
The merger also raised the question of Vincent Bolloré’s growing hold on the media landscape in the broad sense. Even if he officially handed over to his son Yannick at the head of Vivendi, the industrialist is accused of weighing heavily on the editorial line of the press companies and houses he owns. A book-investigation on Éric Zemmour that Editis was to publish had thus been cancelled. The merger dreaded by players in the book world is certainly avoided, but Vincent Bolloré still takes control of a publishing giant.
Vivendi had launched its assault at the beginning of 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 Lagardère at bayheavily in debt and sued by an activist fund, Amber Capital.
(And with AFP)