Publishing News
Arnaud Lagardère, CEO of Lagardère SA (parent company of Hachette Book Group), was required to step down from his position after being charged with ‘‘vote buying, abuse of power and breach of trust, disseminating false or misleading information and failure to publish accounts.’’ He is under judicial supervision and was ordered to produce a bond of €200,000. The charges stem from an investigation into the battle for control of the company, started in 2021. Lagardere is also accused of using funds from the companies for personal expenses. He is contesting the charges. The company released a statement that said, ‘‘This indictment essentially concerns facts relating to personal companies wholly owned by Arnaud Lagardère and not involving any Lagardère group companies.’’ Jean-Christophe Thiery is now provisional chairman and CEO of Lagardère, and is expected to be named CEO of publishing subsidiary Hachette Livre as well.
Hachette Book Group has announced a number of high-level changes in the US and the UK. Ben Sevier is now president and publisher of Grand Central Publishing Group in the US. Hachette UK is being reorganized into three ‘‘core areas’’: adult trade publishing, children’s trade publishing, and educational publishing. Hilary Murray Hill remains CEO of children’s, Katie Espiner will be CEO of adult, and Seshni Jacobs CEO of educational. They will all report to David Shelley, CEO of HBG US and UK. Charlie King is now CEO of of Little, Brown Book Group, while Nick Davies is managing director of John Murray Press and Quercus. Matt Wright was promoted to the new position of CEO of Hachette UK Distribution and Hachette Book Group Distribution. Joanne Westbrook has been promoted to managing director of Hachette UK Distribution.
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