Publishing News

Arnaud Lagardère is now chair and CEO of Hachette Livre, while remaining CEO of parent company Lagardere (which also owns Hachette Book Group and Hachette UK). He replaces Pierre Leroy, who will remain deputy CEO of Lagardere. Arnaud Lagardère says,

In light of the impending merger of the Lagardère group and Vivendi, I wanted to demonstrate my historical and deep-root­ed attachment to the book trade, which the Lagardère family has always supported, including through periods of market un­certainty. Publishers and authors know what they owe Pierre, a man of passion and love for books in all shapes and forms. Pierre has carefully nurtured an intimate and enduring relationship with the authors of our publishers. I aim to maintain this link and continue to make Hachette Livre the greatest home for authors, in all their diversity and talent.

The deal giving Vivendi controlling interest in Lagardere closed in November 2023, with Vivendi executives promising to preserve Lagardere’s integrity and to ‘‘support Lagardère in its devel­opment and the transformation of its businesses. Together, we will strengthen our international presence in the fields of creation, content and distribution. We are delighted to start a fruitful collaboration, bringing all our activities to new heights.’’

Vivendi now owns 60% of stock and a bit over 50% of voting rights. Lagardere will continue to trade independently, with Vivendi explaining that they ‘‘want Lagardere to remain listed: the aim is to maximize value for all parties, including investors. Lagardere will remain an independent and autonomous unit.’’

In related news, Michael Pietsch is retiring as CEO of Hachette Book Group, effective January 1, 2024, and will become chairman for a period of one year. HBG COO Joe Mangan is retiring, also on January 1, 2024. David Shelley, CEO of Hachette UK, is taking over Hachette Book Group as well. This is a ‘‘new English language management structure’’ meant ‘‘to develop the longstanding excellent collaboration’’ between the US and UK divisions. Richard Kitson will be deputy CEO of US and UK operations, reporting to Hachette Livre deputy CEO Stéphanie Ferran and chair and CEO Arnaud Lagardère. Arnaud Lagardère said,

Thanks to this new structure at the helm of our publishing activities in the US and UK, Hachette Livre will be ideally positioned to pursue its ambitions to be a global leader by bringing business closer together and unlocking new opportunities for growth in those strategic markets. The success that David Shelley has built at Hachette UK is both inspiring and impressive, and he is the best person to create a strong and unified English language publishing team. I know that, thanks to Michael Pietsch, Hachette Book Group is the best home for our authors and they will continue to prosper in the care of David Shelley.

HarperCollins Children’s head Liate Stehlik has announced a number of promotions, explaining that the ‘‘new structure will bring together our editorial imprints, allowing us to publish to each group’s unique points of view and sensibilities more.’’ Rich Thomas is now senior vice president and executive director of publishing for Harper­Collins Children’s Books; Nancy Inteli and Erica Sussman have been promoted to vice president and publisher for the Harper Group, with Inteli adding Clarion, Versify, and Allida to her man­agement duty, while Sussman will handle licensed publishing and celebrity programs. Alyson Day, Luana Horry, Dave Linker, and Bethany Vin­hateiro are now editorial directors, reporting to Sussman. Vice president and editorial director Tara Weikum will also report to her, while Ales­sandra Balzer and Donna Bray will continue to report to Stehlik.

On October 30, 2023, Simon & Schuster an­nounced that their $1.6 billion sale to KKR was complete. CEO Jonathan Karp told employees, ‘‘With KKR’s resources and support, we intend to become an even stronger company and a more dynamic force in our industry, while still maintaining our well-established record of edito­rial excellence and independence.’’ He notes that the ‘‘new parent company will enable Simon & Schuster to be the first American publisher of our size in which employees share ownership. Al­though many of us already feel ownership of our work, by sharing in ownership of the company itself, we will be a magnet for the best publishing talent and have more of a voice in charting our collective future.’’

The Wall Street Journal published its final bestseller list on November 4, 2023, covering the week that ended October 28. They published their list, based on Bookscan data, for 14 years, starting with print sales in 2009 and expanding to include ebook sales in 2011.

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