Following the acquisition in April 2008 of Editions Massin, France’s leading publisher of home decor magazines, Lagardère Active, now the No. 1 in this market in France, offers unrivalled reach and coverage with:

• 8.83 million copies sold per year (ODJ DFP 2007) and 11.5 million readers (AEPM 2007).
• A range of 6 titles with multifaceted and complementary orientations: aspirational / emotional / regional interest / action: Elle Décoration, Le Journal de la Maison, Campagne Décoration, Mon Jardin Ma Maison, Art & Décoration (ex-Massin), Maison & Travaux (ex-Massin).

To this same end, Lagardère Active is investing in the digital medium by launching a search engine dedicated to decoration: Dekio.fr. This innovative service-centred site complements the magazine offering, which focuses on specialised editorial content.
It should be remembered that Lagardère Active is already the France’s leading media group on the Internet, with nearly 12 million non-duplicated single hits and the ninth-largest audience group. (Source Médiamétrie/NetRatings)

The Sony Reader can store up to 160 booksand provides access to a wide range of reading materials on a compact mobile device.
The Reader will be available exclusively at Fnac stores and via Fnac.com as of late October, or by reserving a unit in advance at Fnac.com starting in mid-September.Once the Reader goes on sale, it will only be possible to download books from the Fnac.com website, which will offer a catalogue of some 2,000 books selected by Hachette Livre.

The initial selection comprises some 2,000 titles published by Hachette Livre (from Fayard, Jean-Claude Lattès, Grasset, Le Livre de Poche, Hachette Littératures, Armand Colin, Calman-Levy and Marabout) and its partners, Albin Michel in particular. The catalogue, which will be expanded every week, offers enduring works from our backlist, including bestsellers from such authors as Michel Onfray, Max Gallo, Erik Orsenna, Benoîte Groult, Bernard-Henri Levy, Boris Cyrulnik, Katherine Pancol and Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt, as well as new releases, including a large selection of titles published this fall, such as Le Fait du Prince by Amélie Nothomb and Miserere by Jean-Christophe Grangé (both from Albin Michel), Ce Que Nous Avons eu de Meilleur by Jean-Paul Enthoven (Grasset) and Du Cristal à la Fumée by Jacques Attali (Fayard).

“This partnership allows us to offer a complete package based on the Reader. It’s perfect for those who want access to a large selection of books on a compact mobile device. The Reader’s launch in France opens new opportunities for book lovers,” says Philippe Citroën, managing director of Sony France.

“The partnership provides Fnac customers who are passionate about both books and technology with a turnkey solution. Electronic books make reading easy, enjoyable and practical. Our goal is to add all of our editorial products to our digital catalogue by the end of the year so that we can offer our customers the widest selection, ranging from classics to bestsellers, as we do in our stores,” says Christophe Cuvillier, chairman and CEO of Fnac.

”Through this partnership with Sony and Fnac, Hachette Livre is taking a significant step forward in implementing its digital strategy, as it did in the United States. The partnership will let readers experience a whole new way of reading based on an extensive list of titles that will expand over time,” adds Arnaud Nourry, chairman and CEO of the Hachette Livre group.

Product information

Weighing only 260 grams and with a battery that allows readers some 6,800 pages on the go, the new Reader will serve as a trusty companion during the daily commute or trips abroad. In addition to books, the Reader supports personal and professional documents in a number of formats (ePub, Adobe PDF, RTF, TXT, BBeB book and MS Word, automatically converted into RTF by the software provided) as well as images in the JPEG, PNG, GIF and BMP formats plus mp3 and AAC audio files.
The device’s storage capacity can always be increased by adding a memory card (SD or Memory Stick™*).

And thanks to its “E Ink®”* electronic screen, it offers the same reading comfort as a traditional book. What’s more, it has three zoom options that allow the reader to enlarge the text size.

* E Ink is a trademark of E Ink Inc.
* Memory Stick is a Sony trademark.

Jean-Louis Servan-Schreiber and Didier Quillot announce the sale of the block of shares held by the Servan-Schreiber Family, that is 51% of the Group Psychologies (Finev, Inter psycho, Selma), to the Lagardère Active Group which had held a 49% stake in this Group since June 2004.

Jean-Louis Servan-Schreiber, who is 70 years old, wished to lighten the role of newspaper baron that he has assumed for the past 48 years*.

Didier Quillot, for his part, wished to reinforce the presence of the Psychologies Group in the women’s/health/well-being segment where Lagardère Active has a leadership position in France as well as abroad.

Over the last ten years the Psychologies Group has enjoyed remarkable and uninterrupted growth in terms of circulation (372,630 copies, DTP, OJD 2007) and advertising revenues. The first half of 2008 has seen a continuation of these trends, notably in advertising, with Psychologies steadily increasing its market share. Psychologies magazine is, in France, in terms of circulation and ad revenue among the first three upscale monthly women’s magazines.

Over the last four years, Psychologies magazine has been introduced in 8 countries with the support of Lagardère Active, and has become a global brand.

For their part, the psychologies.com site and its affiliated sites have since the start of 2008 been passing the figure of one million unique visitors (Nielsen) and more than 20 million page views, one of the best results among sites spun off from magazines.

Its web-based advertising revenue accounts for 10% of total ad revenue for the Psychologies Group, thus demonstrating how the Lagardère Active Group is deploying its digital transformation model.
Lagardère Active points out that 5 to 10 % of its revenue will be generated by digital initiatives by 2008, one year ahead of schedule.

Psychologies Group’s new CEO will be Arnaud de Saint Simon, who till now was Managing Director and for fifteen years one of the prime movers in the Psychologies magazine saga. He was, among other things, instrumental in the international and digital development of the group over these last few years.

Jean-Louis Servan-Schreiber (JLSS) is to become Chairman of the board. He will, moreover, be given the mandate of checking the editorial quality of current and future editions of Psychologies magazine.

Bruno Lesouëf, CEO of the Magazine Publishing Division France for Lagardère Active will be appointed Vice Chairman of the board of the Psychologies Group.

Perla Servan-Schreiber, who will sit on the board of the Psychologies Group, will continue as head of Interpsycho, which sells all the advertising in hard copy and digital format for the group.

New Web-based developments are scheduled in September and international launches of the magazine are set to continue with a new country planned next October.

Arnaud Lagardère will propose, at the next Lagardère SCA General Assembly, that JLSS becomes a member of the Supervisory Board of Lagardère Group.

Arnaud Lagardère emphasized that « Psychologies is one of the French media’s greatest success stories. It was not the result of chance, but of the right combination of energy, vision, and business ethics that Perla and Jean-Louis Servan-Schreiber so knowingly shared with others. I am especially pleased that he will continue to share with our Group his boundless curiosity».

Didier Quillot, Chairman and CEO of Lagardère Active said: « We are proud and happy to incorporate the assets of Psychologies into Lagardère Active as both groups are key players in the women’s/wellbeing/health segment where we are already present with Doctissimo and our women’s brands. Lagardère Active now faces the formidable challenge of continuing to develop Psychologies, a brand which has become emblematic in the course of time and to incorporate it into our global multi-media and multi-location strategy ».

Jean-Louis Servan-Schreiber said: « After four years of cooperation with the Lagardère Group, strong ties have been forged between our editorial teams. The atmosphere of trust and mutual respect that prevails between us bodes well for the pursuit of the adventure of Psychologies as a multimedia vehicle present in many countries. I will continue to support the efforts and creativity of those who, with us, built the reputation of Psychologies, primarily its heart, Hélène Mathieu’s editorial team ».

What is Read&Go? A new terminal combining the reading comfort of paper with the easy access and response of electronic media. With this new e-paper terminal, users can read and refresh five major French newspapers throughout the day:  Le Monde, Le Parisien, Les Echos, L’Equipe and Télérama

Today, in partnership with five major French newspapers, Orange has launched the trial of Read&Go – the first 3G-connected mobile newspaper kiosk:  a new digital terminal with e-paper technology, combining ease of use with a mobile terminal offering the read comfort of paper. Every morning, testers will be able to read news from Le Monde, Le Parisien, Les Echos, L’Equipe  and Télérama, refreshed every hour with the latest information from their electronic editions.

For this innovation, Orange has specifically developed Wifi/3G coupled connectivity with a dedicated distribution platform, user interface and browsing capability. Read&Go has a storage capacity of 1 Gb – more than 200 newspapers – and also contains a e-library of thirty or so books (literature, strip cartoons, children’s and practical publications, etc.) provided by Feedbooks, Médiatoon (Dargaud, Dupuis, Lombard et Kana) and Mango editions.

Orange and its partners will be running Read&Go trials with around 150 testers recruited from their audiences for a period of two months providing free, unlimited access. In particular, the trials will enable this new screen to be studied as regards use when reading information in mobile situations as well as the ergonomics of the offering and associated terminal…

Lagardère Active is expanding its ELLE network with two new international editions: ELLE Indonesia and ELLE Finland. These latest launches (there have been 13 since 2000) bring to 41 the total number of editions worldwide.

Each month, ELLE has:

• 23 million readers worldwide

• a monthly worldwide circulation of 6 million copies.

The strength of the ELLE network (76,000 editorial pages and 56,000 advertising pages per year), makes ELLE the worldwide leader in the publication of upscale women’s magazines, with a 30% share of the advertising market (source: Secodip Magtracks 2006).
At the end of 2007, ELLE had 27 websites worldwide, with 6 million unique visitors and 91 million page views.

Lagardère Active is pleased to announce the signature of a license with PT Trinaya Tirta for the launch of ELLE Indonesia on 28 March 2008. Adeline Juni Mewengkang has been appointed editor-in-chief.

Lagardère Active will also launch ELLE Finland on 17 April 2008 (May issue) under a licensing agreement with the Aller Group, a Scandinavian publisher and the purchaser last November of Lagardère Active’s Swedish subsidiary. Mirva Saukkola was named editor-in-chief of ELLE Finland, the first international upscale woman’s title to be launched in the Finnish market.
According to Deputy CEO International of Lagardère Active, Jean de Boisdeffre, “These license agreements are part of Lagardère Active’s new global strategy of developing in certain markets via licensing arrangements. Thanks to the considerable know-how of our partners in consumer magazines, our brands’ expansion is continuing at a sustained pace.”

About PT Trinaya Tirta
PT Trinaya Tirta, the leader in the Indonesian market for women’s magazine, publishes the magazines Kartini and Kartika and had revenues of 10 million euros in 2007.

About the Aller Group
With a total of 88 titles, Aller is one of the Nordic countries’ leading magazine publishers with over 16 million readers and a total circulation over 5,2 million copies. In 2007, Aller Group had revenues of 546 million euros. The group is one of the most popular publishers in Finland, with six titles: 7 Päivää, Oho!, Katso, Koti & Keittiö, Fitness and Miss Mix. The entertainment and tv magazine 7 Päivää is the N°1 weekly in circulation in the Nordic countries.

About Lagardère Active
Lagardère Active (magazines, TV, radio, internet and advertising sales) is one of Lagardère SCA’s four major corporate brands, alongside Lagardère Publishing (books), Lagardère Services (distribution and related services) and Lagardère Sports (broadcasting and sports rights management.) Lagardère Active operates in 42 countries worldwide and is an international leader with nearly 235 magazine titles that account for 900 million copies sold each year, 26 radio stations and 10 TV networks. In 2007, Lagardère Active realised consolidated sales of 2.29 billion euros (54% outside France, regional daily news not included).

LVMH, the world’s leading luxury products group, has signed an agreement with Pearson PLC to complete the acquisition of the Les Echos Group.

This agreement was signed following the confirmation earlier today from the Paris Court of First Instance that the process of consultation with the Les Echos works council had been validated.

The agreement between LVMH and Pearson included a series of undertakings relating to editorial independence, staff engagement and employment conditions at the Les Echos Group.

The acquisition will be finalised before the end of the year. In 2006, the Les Echos Group achieved revenues of Euro 126 million and operating results of Euro 10 million.

The Les Echos Group comprises les Echos, the leading economic newspaper in France; les echos.fr, the leading economic website in France; Enjeux, one of the leading economic magazines as well as other specialised financial information services.