” In only two years (2020-2021), recalls the journalist, Arnaud Lagardère succeeded in losing control of the empire built over four decades by his father. The Matra missiles, the cars of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the great voices of Europe 1, the Matra Racing football team, the chain La Cinq, the aircraft manufacturer Airbus, all of this has disappeared. Last vestige of the Lagardère group, Hachette must fall into the hands of Vincent Bolloré. »
1981, a pivotal year
This text, where industrial strategy and family saga mingle, reads like a soap opera. It began in September 1981. A pivotal moment in the history of Jean-Luc Lagardère. He must both negotiate with the new socialist power, eager to nationalize his Matra group, and face a personal tragedy, the serious car accident of his son Arnaud, then aged 20, who was close to death and spent several weeks in the coma.
The ordeal will permanently weld the father and the son. The latter was “brought up according to the ”Mémoires pour l’instruction du Dauphin” written by Louis XIV”, recalls the author, as if in the end there had been no other possible path for him than to succeed to this flamboyant patriarch.
“Affective”
Jean-Luc Lagardère died in 2003, when he was in great shape, from a rare and devastating illness. The suddenness of this death fuels some suspicions, especially with regard to the boss of one of the largest defense groups in the world. Arnaud, 42, takes over. He quickly commits, in 2006, his “biggest mistake” according to Olivier Ubertalli: he goes into very heavy debt in order to strengthen his position in the family business. It thus goes from 5% to 10% of the capital. What need did he have to do that? “It is an emotional and patrimonial movement. A strong way to show that I believe in my group, ”assures the person concerned.
The damage is done. The young entrepreneur therefore drags the reputation of being a debtor. He disengaged from EADS (future Airbus), and from the press, bet on sport, without success… “He almost squandered all the industrial heritage. Today, Arnaud Lagardère is no more than “one shareholder among others in his group, with approximately 11% of the capital, […] henceforth revocable by a majority of two thirds of the board of directors”.
From chapter to chapter, Olivier Ubertalli describes the vertiginous rout of an heir who never forgot to live, and astonishes (amazes?) by his capacity for detachment. The fall engulfed everything except the affection and admiration he has for his father.