- 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.
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.
Press releases
2022/09/13
1852 to 2022: Lagardère Travel Retail celebrates 170 years
2022/09/05
Monthly information relating to the total number of voting rights and shares making up the share capital
Message from the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
"The conversion of Lagardère SCA into a joint-stock company (société anonyme) with a Board of Directors in 2021 marked a new chapter in the Group's history. Our governance is now characterised by a calm and constructive relationship with our main shareholders, which reinforces the integrity and durability of our Group..."The group's activities
The Group is structured around two priority divisions.
CSR at Lagardère
The Lagardère group's CSR roadmap, which is adapted to its stakeholders' growing expectations with regard to responsibility and increasing regulatory constraints on a national and European level governing non-financial information, is based on four main commitments.
