“This story is a real tsunami.

I am very worried”, he said on Wednesday on France Inter.

Antoine Gallimard, boss of the Madrigall group, parent company of Gallimard editions, expressed his fears about the proposed merger between Hachette, the leading French publisher and owned by the Lagardère group, and its challenger Editis, owned by Vivendi.

“We are touching on extremely sensitive areas: the school and the extracurricular,” he said.

The great strength of publishing in France is diversity, having independent booksellers, small publishers, authors of all kinds.

We do craftsmanship.

The economic and industrial approach” carried by Vincent Bolloré “does not make sense”, he hammered.

“This may be a problem of dislocation” of the market.

The media giant Vivendi, controlled by the Bolloré family, announced in September its intention to rise to 45% of the capital of the Lagardère group, then to launch a public takeover bid for the balance of the shares.

“I do not see how Brussels will be able to accept this project”

The operation should lead to the merger of several media such as Europe 1 and CNews, as well as the Hachette Livre and Editis groups, competitors in many publishing sectors, particularly in school textbooks.

The operation must thus be validated by the Superior council of audio-visual and by the European Commission.

“I don't see how Brussels will be able to accept this project.

They are very wise, very attentive people.

I want to believe in the depth of this work,” hoped Antoine Gallimard on Wednesday.

The book market in France experienced unprecedented growth in 2021, with an increase of 12.5% ​​in constant euros compared to 2020, and 7.4% compared to 2019, according to figures published at the end of January by

Livres Hebdo

.

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