Even though I’ve been saying to people that the real story won’t emerge for a few months — at least — it’s still good to check in on February’s biggest publishing-related story, that Lagardere (parent company of Hachette Livre, which owns Orion, Hodder Headline and other media companies) bought Time Warner Book Group. And in fact, the Bookseller delivers a fairly comprehensive take on what’s gone on and what’s coming up next for Lagardere, at least with regards to UK interests.
Said parent company isn’t just limiting its acquisitions to books; the International Herald Tribune reports that they’ve also bought a 20 percent stake in Canal Plus France, the pay-television broadcaster of Vivendi Universal, in exchange for €525 million and its 34 percent stake in CanalSatellite, its broadcasting joint venture with Canal Plus. As a result, a new company would be formed that, while managed by Vivendi Universal, enables Lagardère to have the right to 2 of the 11 seats on the board.
More growth, more expansion, but what does it mean for the book biz? IHT’s Doreen Carvajal delves a bit further into the genesis of the deal, talking with Arnaud Nourry and other publishing types. “I think it was a steal,” said Albert Greco, a professor of marketing at Fordham University and a statistician for the Book Industry Study Group’s annual sales report, considering that “what you’re buying here is a tremendous backlist which is a cash cow and should generate from 60 to 80 percent of revenues, with authors like James Patterson.”
Interestingly enough, Lagardere had its eye on TWBG for nearly a year but proceedings almost got derailed: “at a lunch [in April 2005] with executives of Time Warner Books…Laurence Kirshbaum, then the chief executive of Time Warner Books, proposed an exuberant toast with a French merlot and splashed red wine all over Nourry’s tie.”
But ties are easily replaceable, Nourry got his company, and Kirshbaum’s doing awfully well as an agent. Everybody’s happy!