issues . please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . learn how and when to remove these template messages a major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject . it may require cleanup to comply with wikipedia s content policies particularly neutral point of view . please discuss further on the talk page . october 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message this article relies too much on references to primary sources . please improve this by adding secondary or tertiary sources . april 2011 learn how and when to remove this template message learn how and when to remove this template message lagard re sca type publicly traded soci t en commandite par actions traded as euronext mmb industry mass media founded 1992 ; 24 years ago 1992 headquarters paris france key people arnaud lagard re general and managing partner xavier de sarrau chairman of the supervisory board products publishing books magazines e publishing radio stations audiovisual production online content sports and entertainment broadcast rights retail outlets advertising sales brokerage revenue 7 193 million 2015 1 operating income 378 million 2015 1 profit 240 million 2015 1 total assets 8.307 billion end 2015 1 total equity 2.135 billion end 2015 1 number of employees 25 784 2015 1 subsidiaries lagard re publishing lagard re travel retail lagard re active lagard re sports and entertainment website lagardere.com the head office rue de presbourg in paris lagard re la a d is a multinational media conglomerate headquartered in the 16th arrondissement of paris . 2 the group was created in 1992 as matra hachette & lagard re and once covered a broad range of industries . it is now largely focused on the media sector in which it is one of the world s leading companies . headed by arnaud lagard re the firm does business in almost 40 countries and is structured around four main business lines its book and electronic publishing division lagard re publishing includes the major imprint hachette livre . the lagard re travel retail unit includes store retail largely in airports 3 and railway stations while the lagard re active unit encompasses newspaper digital media and magazine publishing including hachette filipacchi m dias radio and television broadcasting and production and advertising sales . lagard re sports and entertainment engages in sports and talent management sports academies event management marketing of sports broadcast rights and management of sports venues . contents 1 history 1.1 hachette and matra the foundation of lagard re 1.2 jean luc lagard re and the birth of the group 1.3 arnaud lagard re and the group s refocus on media 1.4 from a conglomerate to a media diversified group 1.5 2010 shareholders meeting 1.6 agreement between lagard re sca and hearst corporation 2 management 3 business lines 4 jean luc lagard re foundation 5 financial data 6 references 7 external links history edit hachette and matra the foundation of lagard re edit louis hachette s 1826 acquisition of parisian bookstore br dif was the starting point for what would one day be the lagard re group . hachette published magazines dedicated to public entertainment le journal pour tous everyone s newspaper 1855 and also took part in publishing the dictionnaire de la langue fran aise dictionary of the french language with his friend littr beginning in 1863 . in 1953 hachette launched le livre de poche with henri filipacchi . created in 1945 matra mechanics aviation traction was the company behind several technological projects creating a twin engine airplane prototype able to travel at 800 km h breaking the sound barrier at mach 1.4 in vertical flight clarification needed for the first time in europe . in 1990 matra espace and the aerospace division of gec marconi came together to create matra marconi space . matra hautes technologies joined the aerospace industry and officially became aerospatiale matra on june 11 1999 . eads or the european aeronautic defence and space company was founded on july 10 2000 from the merger of a rospatiale matra sa aeronauticas sa and daimlerchrysler aerospace ag . it officially launched the a380 program that same year . the aircraft would make its first flight in 2005 . jean luc lagard re and the birth of the group edit in 1963 jean luc lagard re was appointed chief executive officer of matra with 1 450 employees . in 1981 he became head of hachette . in 1988 the group s first overseas acquisition was of grolier encyclopedias in the united states . in 1992 after a major year long restructuring matra hachette and lagard re group were created . in the early 1990s jean luc lagard re turned to television and became head of la cinq . arnaud lagard re and the group s refocus on media edit in 1994 hachette livre launched the first multimedia encyclopedia axis . also in 1994 matra hachette multimedia presented epsis the first image substitution process for advertising . in 1998 hachette multimedia was born of the consolidation of the multimedia division of hachette livre and grolier interactive online educational services . a strategic agreement signed in 2000 by lagard re and deutsche telekom to provide internet service led to the merger of t online and club internet . in 1995 hachette acquired ucs canada s leading newsstand chain 4 and became the third largest operator in the international retail press trade . in 1996 hachette livre acquired the hatier group . in 1997 hachette livre won a string of literary prizes including the prix goncourt and the prix de l acad mie fran aise with la bataille the battle by patrick rambaud grasset . that same year europe 1 and club internet launched europe info . in 2000 hachette distribution services created relay an international brand specializing in selling media products at public points of sale . that same year lagard re and canal got into digital television . in 2001 lagard re acquired the virgin stores brand and virgin megastore in france . hachette filipacchi m dias has continued its growth by taking a 42 % stake in the marie claire group . from a conglomerate to a media diversified group edit with the death of jean luc lagard re on march 14 2003 arnaud lagard re was appointed general partner of lagard re sca . that same year lagard re sold off its interest in renault as well as its automotive engineering business . in 2004 the group acquired 40 % of editis formerly vivendi universal publishing . lagard re took advantage of the growth of tnt to launch the youth channel gulli in partnership with france t l visions . in 2006 arnaud lagard re created lagard re sports a new subsidiary of the group specializing in sports economics and sporting rights . lagard re also became the new franchisee of the croix catelan bois de boulogne paris and the rue ebl sports and recreation sites for a twenty year period . on may 31 2010 lagard re sports changed its name and became lagard re unlimited a new branch of the group specializing in sport industry and entertainment . 5 on july 8 2015 lagard re services was renamed lagard re travel retail . on september 15 2015 agencies of the lagard re group announced that they are being renamed under a common corporate brand lagard re sports and entertainment . this new brand will replace the brand of lagard re unlimited as one of the four divisions of the lagard re group . in addition all sports marketing agencies within this division including sportfive world sport group iec in sports sports marketing and management and lagard re unlimited inc. will now be unified under a single commercial brand being lagard re sports with all entertainment businesses under the brand lagard re live entertainment . 6 2010 shareholders meeting edit seventeen years after the creation of the limited partnership disputed by an american activist the sca the french limited partnership with shares was confirmed by nearly 80 % of shareholders at the shareholders meeting on april 27 2010 . 7 agreement between lagard re sca and hearst corporation edit on march 28 2011 lagard re sca signed a contract for the sale of its international magazine business totaling 102 titles to hearst corporation for 651 million . 8 the transaction includes a master license agreement mla relating to the elle trademark in the 15 countries affected by the transfer in return for which the group will receive an annual recurring royalty payment . lagard re will retain complete ownership of its magazine business operations in france and of its elle trademark throughout the world . the closing of the transaction remains subject to approval by local partners in certain countries as well as to certain customary governmental approvals and antitrust clearances in certain jurisdictions . management edit the management structure of lagard re reflects its status as a soci t en commandite par actions partnership limited by shares the firm is led by general and managing partner arnaud lagard re 9 1 who heads an executive committee comprising two co managing partners pierre leroy and thierry funck brentano spokesperson and chief of external relations ramzi khiroun and chief financial officer g rard adsuar . each of the four main divisions of the company has its own chairman and ceo with lagard re publishing led by arnaud nourry lagard re active by denis olivennes 10 lagard re travel retail by dag rasmussen and lagard re sports and entertainment by arnaud lagard re . the company is overseen by a largely independent supervisory board which has been chaired by xavier de sarrau since april 2010 . its other members are nathalie andrieux soumia belaidi malinbaum martine ch ne georges chodron de courcel fran ois david yves guillemot pierre lescure jean claude magendie h l ne molinari javier monz n aline sylla walbaum fran ois roussely susan m. tolson and patrick valroff . business lines edit lagard re publishing lagard re publishing is a federation of publishing houses . lagard re travel retail lagard re services is involved in press distribution and travel retail . aelia is a subsidiary of lagard re that manages 270 duty free shops in france the united kingdom poland ireland and spain . 3 in 2013 aelia had sales of over 1 100 million . 3 end of 2013 lagard re acquired the dutch company gerzon schiphol gerzon duty free and gerzon import . gerzon has a long term concession for fashion leather & travel and holds stores at amsterdam schiphol airport among them hermes burberry victoria secret ralph lauren and 9 multi brands in fashion and leather & travel . with this step lagard re is the first major travel retail company to set foot on amsterdam schiphol airport . with the renovation of terminal 2 completing in q1 2015 extra stores will be added like botega veneta hermes burberry and gucci . gerzon has opened the 3rd location of victoria s secret in the netherlands at amsterdam central railway station . from the 1st of december 2015 gerzon will become lagard re travel retail the netherlands . in 2015 lagard re travel retail acquired paradies in north america signing the agreement in august 11 and completing the acquisition in october . 12 paradies and lagard re travel retail in north america were combined as paradies lagard re travel retail . lagard re active lagard re active is a french media company structured around 6 business segments magazine publishing elle paris match le journal du dimanche etc. radio europe 1 virgin radio radio zet jacaranda 94.2 etc. tv channels gulli mcm mezzo etc. audiovisual production digital activities doctissimo elle.fr etc. and advertising sales . lagard re sports and entertainment lagard re sports and entertainment is a sports and entertainment company active in six business activities content production and broadcast rights management