Hersant, Dassault & Socpresse: Landmarks
Landmarks
This chronology is indicative only. It covers -
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- antecedents (1826)
- beginnings (1940)
- Hersant goes national (1975)
- and international (1989)
- end of the Hersant era (1996)
- takeover by Dassault (2004)
Context is provided by the broader communications and media timeline on this site.
Antecedents
1826 Le Figaro founded
1859 Le Progrès de Lyon founded
1866 Le Figaro becomes Paris's leading newspaper
1914 Marcel Bloch graduates as aeronautical engineer
1918 establishes aircraft manufacturing company
1920 Robert Hersant born
1922 Le Figaro bought by perfumier François Coty
1934 Le Figaro revived by Pierre Brisson after passing to Coty's ex-wife
1936 government nationalises Avions Marcel Bloch-Breguet Aviation
Beginnings
1940 Hersant founds Jeune Front far-right political party in France
1941 becomes director of Marshal Petain Youth Centre
1942 launches Jeune Forces newspaper
1942 Le Figaro suspended
1942 L'Aurore founded
1944 regional daily Midi Libre independently founded in Montpellier
1944 Marcel Bloch arrested by Gestapo and sent to Buchenwald
1944 Le Figaro revived
1945 Hersant jailed for collaboration with Germans
1945 Bloch changes name to Dassault, launches new aircraft company
1947 Hersant condemned to 10 years of 'national indignity'
1950 consortium led by Jean Prouvost gains control of Le Figaro from Mme Coty
1951 Boussac buys L'Aurore
1952 Hersant amnestied
1952 founds L'Auto Journal
1956 election to French national parliament declared invalid
1957 founds Centre Presse newspaper and magazine group
1961 Dassault spins off avionics arm
1964 Prouvost increases Figaro stake
1967 Société des Avions Marcel Dassault company takes 66% of Breguet Aviation
1970 Prouvost becomes main shareholder in Figaro
1971 Breguet Aviation merges with Société des Avions Marcel Dassault
Hersant goes national
1975 Hersant buys Le Figaro for F75m
1980 buys L'Aurore from Boussac
1980 Le Figaro merged with L'Aurore
1984 Hersant elected as Euro MP
1986 Hersant buys Le Progrès de Lyon and eight other Lyons papers
1986 takes stake in La Cinq tv network in France (partnering Berlusconi) after Seydoux's Pathé group withdraws
1987 buys Les Nouvelles Caledoniennes in New Caledonia
And international
1989 buys 40% stake in Rossel newspaper group in Belgium
1990 Hersant and Berlusconi withdraw from La Cinq
1990 Hersant sells some minor newspapers in France
1991 Hersant buys Hungarian national daily Magyar Nemzet (later sold)
1991 buys 51% of Polish national daily Rzeczpospolita
1991 buys Tempo, Dziennik Baltycki, Dziennik Lodzki, Trybuna Slaska, Express Ilustrowany, Wieczor Wybrzeza, Dziennik Zachodni and Gazeta Krakowska in Poland
1994 sells most Polish regional dailies
1994 sells some magazine titles to EMAP
1996 sells stake in Rzeczpospolita to Orkla for US$45m
End of the Hersant era
1996 Robert Hersant dies, group begins restructuring
2000 sells 20% of stake in Le Figaro
2000 buys French 1st Division club FC Nantes
2001 sells stake in Figaro to Carlyle Group, owner of Baker & Taylor
2001 buys 60% of Pessiot Tierce publishing
2001 buys 53% of Marne Hebdo
2002 Dassault group buys 30% stake in Socpresse
2002 Carlyle Group sells stake in Figaro
2002 Socpresse buys Vivendi's Groupe Express-Expansion and Groupe l'Etudiant consumer press arm for €200m
2003 Hersant's France Antilles group buys Vivendi's Comareg for €135m
Takeover by Dassault
2004 Dassault buys 50% of Socpresse from Hersant heirs, taking stake to 80%