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STARHIT, a new women’s celebrity magazine in Russia

Alongside its transition toward a tighter focus on digital, Lagardère Active, which generates more than half of its sales internationally, continued its expansion with the launch of its fourth magazine abroad since the beginning of 2007. The editorship of StarHit, launched last November in Moscow, was entrusted to Russia’s best-known TV host, Andrey Malakhov.
With an unusually high initial print run of 715,000 copies, it was the first premium weekly magazine to cover 80% of the Russian population with exclusive features on celebrities, local news and TV programming.

Acquisition of Doctissimo

With the acquisition, in February 2008, of Doctissimo, France’s leading operator of women's and health-oriented websites, Lagardère Active takes the leadership in the women’s segment and now ranks in 10th position in Internet audience in France (all segments combined) with 10.9 million unique visitors per month (audience calculated as of 31 January 2008)

Europe 2 and Europe 2 TV adopt the Virgin Name

On 31 December 2007 at midnight, Europe 2 and Europe 2 TV became Virgin Radio and Virgin 17 respectively. Why Virgin? Because it is a thoroughly contemporary, forward-looking brand, a powerful, world-renowned name that conveys – in the spirit of its creator, Richard Branson – the music division’s key values of originality, imagination, extravagance and daring. This brand change reflects Lagardère Active’s strategy of capitalizing on strong brands at a time when radio and television are undergoing major transformations. Virgin Radio and Virgin 17 symbolize the emergence of new music, new talent and a new spirit of innovation in television writing.