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New Hachette chief plays down sell-off plan as rumours build
Pierre Leroy, the newly installed chairman and c.e.o. of Hachette Livre, (pictured), has told staff "unambiguously" that the continued development of Hachette Livre in France and throughout the world is the "only project" the group is working on and this is "aligned with the long-term future of the Lagardère group".
The message is in an attempt to play down rumours that are now circling the group following the abrupt sacking of its former boss Arnaud Nourry this week.
Nourry left his role as chairman and c.e.o. of Hachette Livre on Monday 29th March, with speculation suggesting that he was at odds with parent company Lagardère's efforts to divest itself of parts of its publishing wing, with a new rumour emerging that he could have been planning his own management buyout. However, in a long letter sent to all Hachette Livre employees and seen by The Bookseller, Leroy, who is also co-managing partner of Lagardère, wrote: "We want you all to feel fully engaged and invested in the company’s future and in the ambition set out for the years to come."
The carefully worded statement continued: "On that matter, let me state unambiguously in my dual capacity as chairman and chief executive officer of Hachette Livre and co-managing partner of the Lagardère group, that our project is clear: the continued development of Hachette Livre in France and throughout the world, in books and in the other diverse areas we have been branching into in recent years. It is the only project. It is aligned with the long-term future of the Lagardère group, and beyond that, with our responsibility as guardians of this exceptional heritage."
Meanwhile, rumours continue to build in France of the reasons behind Nourry's swift exit with French newsletter Lettre A reporting that Nourry had planned to launch a leveraged buyout for Hachette.
The plan was Nourry’s alternative to Vivendi buying part of Hachette. Vivendi owns Editis, France’s second largest publisher. According to reports Nourry's departure from Hachette was one of Vivendi chief Vincent Bolloré’s conditions for an agreement to carve the publisher up, the newspaper Le Monde said. Reports suggest that Arnaud Lagardère’s ally LVMH chief Bernard Arnault and rival Vivendi chief Vincent Bolloré are negotiating to hive off Hachette’s overseas publishing interests to Vivendi, and to leave its domestic interests with Lagardère. But Nourry had publicly rebuked this plan.
One observer, Jean-Clément Texier, merchant banker and president of Compagnie Financière de Communication, said that Nourry could easily raise the cash necessary for a buyout. “Nourry has been approached by at least half a dozen investment funds.” The ex-Hachette chief has also hired the services of strategy consultant Caroline Marchetti, Lettre A noted.
In an internal message sent to the 7,000-odd Hachette staff, union and works council representatives said they “very sincerely regret” Nourry’s departure, the trade publication Livres Hebdo reported. Nourry was “the last rampart against predators wanting to share out Hachette Livre” and a “victim” of injustice as a result of “business cynicism”. Nourry is “a visionary who turned a totally French publisher into the world’s third largest publishing group,” the message said.
Leroy also praised Nourry, writing: "He had a profound understanding of the publishing business, its challenges and what makes it work. I would like to pay tribute to all of his work." And added: "We have a great and special responsibility as guardians of an exceptional intellectual legacy that we are charged with protecting, fructifying and offering to the world in the most accessible manner possible. This purpose must be sustained by vision, creativity and ethics commensurate with the scale of the challenge."
