- Key dates
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 (Elle, Le Journal du Dimanche, etc.) and distribution.
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.
2015-2019
Acquisition of Paradies, Hojeij Branded Foods and International Duty Free (Travel Retail), and of Perseus Books, Bookouture, La Plage, Worthy Publishing Groupand Short Books (Publishing), etc.
2018-2020
Rollout of the Group's strategic refocusing around two priority divisions, Lagardère Publishing and Lagardère Travel Retail.
