Parent company Lagardère Publishing Headquarters location Paris CEO Arnaud Nourry (Jun 2003–) Founded 1826 | Country of origin France Official website hachette.com/en Headquarters Paris, France Parent organization Lagardère Group | |
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Key people Arnaud Nourry (fr) (CEO) Founder Louis Christophe François Hachette Subsidiaries Hachette Book Group, Éditions Grasset | ||
Hachette, [a.ʃɛt], is a French publisher. It was founded in 1826 by Louis Hachette as Brédif, a bookshop and publishing company. It became L. Hachette et Compagnie on 1 January 1846, Librairie Hachette in 1919, and Hachette SA in 1977. It was acquired by the Lagardère Group in 1981. In 1992 the publishing assets of Hachette SA were grouped into a subsidiary called Hachette Livre ([a.ʃɛt liːvʁ]), the flagship imprint of Lagardère Publishing. Hachette has its headquarters in the 15th arrondissement of Paris.
In 1996 it merged with the Hatier group. In 2004, Hachette acquired dictionary publisher Éditions Larousse. In 2006, it expanded into the United States when it purchased Time Warner's book-publishing division, which was then renamed Hachette Book Group USA. In June 2013, Hachette announced that it would acquire Hyperion Books from Disney. It is one of the largest English-language publishers, known as the "Big Five".
In May 2014, Amazon.com stopped taking pre-order sales of Hachette books, citing a breakdown in negotiations over commission and ebook pricing. According to Hachette, Amazon had also stopped discounting its books, sending prices of Hachette titles in the U.S. to more than twice what they were selling for in the UK.
Corporate affairs
Hachette has its headquarters in the Beaugrenelle district in the 15th arrondissement of Paris.
Hachette's head office previously occupied a building at the intersection of Saint-Germain and Saint-Michel in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés area. It later moved to its current location.
Hachette planned to lease 9,900 square metres (107,000 sq ft) of space at a building in Malakoff, Hauts de Seine around 2011, even though the building in the 15th arrondissement was being renovated.
In June 2014, the company's U.S. affiliate in conjunction with Perseus Books Group, and Ingram Content Group, announced a three-way deal whereby Hachette would buy Perseus and then sell the company's client services businesses to Ingram. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. However, in August 2014, the deal was called off because Hachette and the other parties involved decided the deal was too complicated.