Hachette Livre

Hachette Livre S.A. (French: [aʃɛtlivʁ]; simply known as Hachette) is a French publishing group and public limited company established as a brick and mortar specialty retailer in the Latin Quarter of Paris, France in the early 19th century. It was founded in 1826 by Louis Hachette as the bookshop Brédif, which later became successively L. Hachette et Compagnie (from French; English: "L. Hachette and Company"), Librairie Hachette ("Hachette Booksellers"), and Hachette SA before being given the name it is currently known by in France: Hachette Livre ("Hachette Book(s)"). After acquiring an Australian publisher, the company formed its Australian national subsidiary, Hachette Australia; in the U.K., the company's British subsidiary became known as Hachette UK; and with its expansion into the United States, its American subsidiary was named Hachette Book Group.

Hachette Livre has been owned by the Lagardère Group since 1981 under their publishing division Lagardère Publishing. Lagardère Group in turn is majority owned by the French conglomerate Louis Hachette Group (LHG), resulting from the spin-off of Vivendi.

The company is today headquartered at 58 Rue Jean Bleuzen in the commune of Vanves in the suburban outskirts of Paris.

History

France

It was founded in 1826 by Louis Hachette as Brédif, a bookshop and publishing company. It became L. Hachette et Compagnie on 1 January 1846, Librairie Hachette in 1919, and Hachette SA in 1977. The company was family led for several generations, including by Hachette's great-grandson, Robert Meunier du Houssoy. It was acquired by the Lagardère Group in 1981. In 1992, the publishing assets of Hachette SA were grouped into a subsidiary called Hachette Livre (French pronunciation: [a.ʃɛtliːvʁ]), the flagship imprint of Lagardère Publishing. Hachette has its headquarters in the 15th arrondissement of Paris. In 1996, it merged with the Hatier group, and acquired French art book publisher Fernand Hazan Éditeur soon afterwards. In 2004, Hachette acquired dictionary publisher Éditions Larousse.

International expansion

In 2002, UK publisher John Murray was acquired by Hodder Headline, which was itself acquired in 2004 by the Lagardère Group. Since then, it has been an imprint under Lagardère brand known as Hachette UK.

In 2004, Lagardère acquired Australian publisher Hodder Headline for Hachette Livre, who renamed it Hachette Australia.

In 2006, it expanded into the United States when it purchased Time Warner's book-publishing division, which was then renamed Hachette Book Group USA. Part of Time Warner's holdings was Australian independent publishing house Lothian Books, which was incorporated as an imprint.

In June 2013, Hachette announced that it would acquire the adult trade business of Hyperion Books from Disney. (Disney retained the young adult business and books related to existing Disney–ABC TV properties, under an expanded Disney–Hyperion imprint.)

In 2018, it announced its Robinson Millenials label, under which it would be publishing webcomics in partnership with Hiveworks Comics.

Hachette UK acquired Laurence King Publishing, original publisher of adult colouring book author and illustrator Johanna Basford, in August 2020. In 2022, it acquired Welbeck Publishing Group.

Corporate affairs

Since April 2015, Hachette's headquarters have been located at 58 rue Jean-Bleauzen in Vanves (department Hauts-de-Seine, France).

Hachette's head office previously occupied a building at the intersection of the Boulevards Saint-Germain and Saint-Michel in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés area, then from 2006 to 2015 in Grenelle, in Paris's 15th arrondissement.

In June 2014, the company's U.S. affiliate in conjunction with Perseus Books Group, and Ingram Content Group, announced a three-way deal whereby Hachette would buy Perseus and then sell the company's client services businesses to Ingram. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. However, in August 2014, the deal was called off because Hachette and the other parties involved decided the deal was too complicated. The deal eventually went through in April 2016 with Perseus's publishing assets and imprints going to Hachette, and distribution assets to Ingram.

Hachette's English-language businesses in the UK and the U.S. will be moved to a single management team in January 2024, with Hachette UK CEO David Chelley taking the same position at the Hachette Book Group USA and reporting to the Hachette Livre chairman and CEO Arnaud Lagardère.

Company structure

Hachette Livre is involved in three core businesses: publishing, partworks and distribution.

Publishing

Hachette Livre has book publishing operations in their native France, as well as in Spain, Latin and North America (the former mostly in Mexico), the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, India, China, the Arab world (mostly in Lebanon and Morocco) and Francophone sub-Saharan Africa.

Partworks

Hachette distributes partworks to France, Belgium, Switzerland, Canada, Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Ecuador, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Italy, Greece, Germany, Austria, Poland, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Russia, the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, Belarus, Croatia, Hungary and Bulgaria.

• Hachette Collections (France; also distributed in Francophone parts of Belgium, Switzerland and Canada)
• Kolekcja Hachette (Poland)
• (United Kingdom)
• Hachette Kollektsia (Russia)
• Hachette Fascicoli (Italy; also distributed in Greece, Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia, Hungary and Bulgaria)
• Hachette Collections Japan
• Editorial Salvat (Spain and Latin America)

Distribution

• Hachette Livre Distribution (France)
• Dilibel (Belgium)
• Diffulivre (Switzerland)
• Hachette Canada
• Lightning Source France (joint venture with Lightning Source)
• Bookpoint (United Kingdom)
• Hachette UK Distribution
• Alliance Distribution Services (Australia)
• HBG Cilent Services (United States)
• Comercial Grupo Anaya (Spain)

See also

• Books in France
• Hachette Books
• Hachette Book Group

Notes and references

Further reading

• (includes acquisitions and changes, from 1726 UK John Murray through to 2015)
• Gill, Harsimran (17 February 2018). . Scroll.in.

External links