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1945

At the end of World War II, Marcel Chassagny founds Matra (Mécanique Aviation TRAction), a company focused on the defence industry.

1963

Jean-Luc Lagardère becomes Chief Executive Officer of Matra, which has diversified into aerospace and automobiles.

1974

Sylvain Floirat asks Jean-Luc Lagardère to head the Europe 1 radio network.

1977

Jean-Luc Lagardère is appointed Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Matra.

1980

Matra acquires the Hachette group, specialised in book publishing (Grasset, Fayard, Stock, etc.), magazines and newspapers (ElleLe Journal du Dimanche, etc.) and distribution.

1981

The French State acquires a 51% interest in Matra (excluding Hachette). Europe 1 is sold to the French State via Sofirad.
Jean-Luc Lagardère and Daniel Filipacchi are appointed Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hachette.

1986

Hachette regains control of Europe 1.

10 February 1988

Matra is privatised.

30 December 1992

Following the failure of French television channel La Cinq, Hachette is merged into Matra to form Matra-Hachette, and Lagardère Groupe, a French partnership limited by shares, is created as the umbrella company for the entire ensemble.

1996

Matra-Hachette is absorbed into Lagardère Groupe, which changes its name to Lagardère SCA.

1999

Aerospatiale Matra is created following the merger of Aerospatiale and Matra Hautes Technologies.

2000

The EADS consortium is formed following the merger of Aerospatiale Matra, CASA and DaimlerChrysler Aerospace.

14 March 2003

Death of Jean-Luc Lagardère.

26 March 2003

Arnaud Lagardère is appointed Managing Partner of Lagardère SCA.

2004

The Group acquires a portion of Vivendi Universal Publishing’s French and Spanish assets.

2007

The Group reorganises around four major institutional brands: Lagardère Publishing, Lagardère Services (which became Lagardère Travel Retail in 2015), Lagardère Active and Lagardère Sports (which became Lagardère Sports and Entertainment in 2015).

2011

The Group sells its international magazine operations.

2013

The Group divests its remaining interest in EADS.

2015-2020

Acquisition of Paradies, Hojeij Branded Foods, International Duty Free (Travel Retail), and of Perseus Books, Bookouture, La Plage, Worthy Publishing Group, Short Books, Laurence King Publishing and Workman Publishing (Publishing), etc.

2018-2020

Strategic refocusing of the Group around two priority divisions – Lagardère Publishing and Lagardère Travel Retail – as well as Other Activities (Lagardère News and Lagardère Live Entertainment).

2021

Conversion of Lagardère SCA into a French joint-stock company (société anonyme) and implementation of a new governance structure.