Chairman and CEO Nourry Leaves Hachette Livre

Arnaud Nourry

Chairman and CEO Arnaud Nourry has left Hachette Livre and will be succeeded by Pierre Leroy, the Bookseller reported. Parent company Lagardère said Nourry, who has held the posts since 2003, "decided to part ways with the group on an amicable basis."

Acting on the proposal of Lagardère chief Arnaud Lagardère, the board of directors of Hachette Livre appointed Leroy, co-managing partner of Lagardère SCA, as the new Hachette Livre chairman and CEO. He is also chairman of IMEC, the French institute for contemporary publishing archives, director of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France endowment fund, chairman of the jury of the Prix de la littérature arabe literary awards and a former member of the jury of the Médicis literary prize.

In other changes, Fabrice Bakhouche, co-managing partner and secretary general of the Lagardere group, has been appointed deputy CEO. Prior to joining Hachette Livre in 2017, he held various positions, including media and digital advisor to the French prime minister and chief of staff to the minister of culture and communication.

"I would like to thank Arnaud Nourry for his commitment and his remarkable work over all these years in developing Hachette Livre," Arnaud Lagardère said. "He played a decisive role in establishing Hachette Livre as a world leader in publishing. I'm very pleased to see Pierre Leroy take the helm of Lagardère Publishing. With the support of Fabrice Bakhouche and Hachette Livre's talented teams, I know that Pierre will successfully lead our ambitious plans to develop Hachette Livre. I'm also delighted to be able to continue to count on his support as co-managing partner and secretary general of Lagardère. His positioning at the apex of the group's executive management is extremely valuable."

The Bookseller noted that in an interview with French economic daily Les Echos earlier this month, Nourry "warned that he would not stand by and watch the publishing house being carved up by the shareholders of parent company Lagardère. Reports have suggested that chief Arnaud Lagardère, his ally LVMH chief Bernard Arnault and rival Vivendi chief Vincent Bolloré were negotiating to break up the group. Nourry also told Le Monde last week that he had no regrets at not having bid for Simon & Schuster." Speculation is that Lagardère may sell Hachette's overseas operations, 70% of its sales, to Vivendi and its Editis publishing division and focus on French publishing.

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