About Lagardere

Cultivating innovation

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Innovation is the perfect illustration of Lagardère’s genetic inheritance.
Since its founding in 1826 and Louis Hachette’s subsequent creation of the first train-station bookstores, Lagardère has unceasingly cultivated a pioneering, visionary spirit.
In today’s constantly changing media world, the women and men of Lagardère demonstrate a renewed capacity for innovation every day, in each business line.
True to its reputation as a pioneering enterprise, in 2008 Lagardère again showed remarkable savoir-faire – particularly with regard to new technology and the sports economy – in serving its many and varied audiences.

Lagardère Publishing

A whole library... in your pocket!
When Sony decided to launch its Reader (PRS- 505) – a state-of-the-art, pocketbook-sized e-book reader – on the French market in October 2008, the FNAC (a French entertainment retail chain) proposed a three-party partnership with Hachette Livre: Sony would grant the FNAC an exclusive licence to sell the Sony Reader for a limited period, and Hachette Livre would make its catalogue of e-books, along with those of certain third-party publishers it distributes, available to Reader purchasers ahead of release to the general public. This arrangement constituted a complete offering that allowed FNAC customers to purchase the Sony Reader and then download selected books from among the 2,000 titles offered by Fayard, Stock, Calmann-Lévy, Grasset, Marabout, Albin Michel and others via the FNAC’s Internet site from the very fi rst day of Reader sales.

A whole library... on a single server!
Books in the form of computer fi les that can be read on electronic tablets? What a perfect opportunity for Hachette Livre, which holds the rights to hundreds of thousands of books in all publishing categories, and in the three most widely-spoken and widely-read languages in the world. Yet all these books must be digitized, coded, labelled, listed, stored, protected and eventually marketed and invoiced in a reliable, effi cient manner in order to avoid the anarchy that ruined the record industry and is now threatening the movie business. In France, the solution to this stringent set of requirements goes by the name of Numilog, an SME acquired by Hachette Livre in 2008. Its mission is to put together a completeas- possible catalogue of books in digital format – for both Lagardère Publishing and third-party publishers – and to market these e-books to individuals via its website (numilog.com) and those of its client retailers (bookshops and specialized mass retailers). Numilog’s catalogue already boasts over 60,000 titles and is growing at the rate of several hundred titles per day.

Lagardère Active

Hachette Fujingaho and Sumitomo Corp.: a strategic alliance in Japan
Hachette Fujingaho, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lagardère Active Japan, has concluded an agreement with the Sumitomo Corporation, with the primary objective of developing an e-commerce operation focusing on the Elle brand by September 2009. This operation will involve the marketing of products selected by Elle Japan (magazine and website), along with other licensed goods, while capitalizing on the full range of Hachette Fujingaho’s media brands (including Elle Girl, Elle Déco, 25 ans and Fujingaho) and Sumitomo’s distribution channels (e-commerce, m-commerce, shopping channels and more). The agreement stipulates that Sumitomo will acquire a 34% stake in Hachette Fujingaho.

Draws ever more internet visitors in France
With over 15 million unique visitors (UVs) via all points of connection combined at year-end (source: Mediametrie/NetRatings), Lagardère Active sites are visited by nearly half of all active Internet users in France. This makes Lagardère Active one of France’s leading media groups in terms of visitor traffi c via all points of connection. It is a leading player in the women’s segment (Doctissimo.fr: 8 million UVs, Elle.fr: 2.2 million UVs and Psychologies.com: 883,000 UVs) and the entertainment segment (Première Network: 4.5 million UVs). The symbolic threshold of a million unique visitors was surpassed by sites targeting children, with the Gulli, Canal J and TiJi websites drawing a total of 1.1 million unique visitors. In addition, the news segment also posted solid increases, with Europe1.fr drawing 1.5 million UVs and Jdd.fr drawing 1.1 million UVs.

Lagardère Services

HDS Digital offers iPhone version of magazine download service
In addition to letting you transfer a whole library of magazines to a USB key, HDS Digital is offering a new mobility-oriented service that is both simple and entertaining: you can now read magazines anytime, anywhere on your iPhone screen. A text message is sent to the customer’s iPhone each time a magazine is purchased or made available. By following the link indicated in the message, customers can quickly and easily access the entire magazine and then immediately leaf through it, wherever they happen to be – no computer required.

Aelia opens a 1,275-SQ. m multistore in Warsaw
On 21 March 2008, Aelia opened a 1,275-sq. m multistore in the new terminal at Warsaw’s Frederic Chopin airport. Located on the terminal’s outer concourse, the store offers a wide variety of products. Two 500-sq. m areas are devoted to perfume, cosmetics, alcohol, tobacco and gourmet foods, while the centre of the retail outlet offers luxury products and accessories, with a Swarovski Crystal department and special areas for eyeglasses and wristwatches. Eastern Europe’s second-largest airport after Prague, Frederic Chopin airport served more than 8 million passengers in 2006 and has experienced the region’s strongest growth.

Lagardère Sports

An innovative partnership between Sportfive, Upsolut ant the International Triathlon Union (ITU)
In 2008, a new worldwide triathlon series was created to replace the former Triathlon World Championships. Upsolut is helping to create a new worldwide triathlon series with a completely restructured championship format. Athletes will now
compete in a championship series comprising eight different events spread throughout the year. Sportfive is handling the marketing and sale of worldwide media rights for this new series – one example of the closer relationships developing between Lagardère Sports subsidiaries.