The European Commission announced on Tuesday that it had approved the acquisition by Czech businessman Daniel Kretinsky of the French publishing group Editis, sold by the Vivendi group.
In its notification, the Commission explains that the 25.03% of the distributor Fnac Darty held by Daniel Kretinsky, via his group Czech Media Invest (CMI), did not pose a competition problem.
The fear that Fnac favors books published by Editis
The fear was that Fnac, a cultural products brand which claims to be “France’s leading bookseller”, would favor books published by Editis to the detriment of its rivals, or that Editis would reserve exclusivity for Fnac to sell its books to consumers.
But on the one hand, believes the guardian of competition in the European Union, “Daniel Kretinsky’s current minority stake does not give him control over Fnac Darty”, even if he is the largest shareholder.
On the other hand, the Czech company “would not have a financial incentive, in the current circumstances, to restrict access to Editis books to Fnac Darty’s competitors in the retail sector.”
Opposition of the European Commission to Vincent Bolloré owning both Editis and Hachette Livre
Editis (with houses like Robert Laffont, Le Robert, Nathan, Plon, etc.) is the French number two in publishing, behind Hachette Livre (Grasset, Larousse, Livre de Pocket, Hatier, etc.), which generates approximately two thirds of its activity outside France.
Hachette Livre is controlled by Lagardère, which Vivendi is to acquire following a successful public purchase operation.
The European Commission objected to Vivendi, controlled by billionaire Vincent Bolloré, owning both Hachette Livre and Editis. Vivendi therefore chose to sell the entirety of Editis, allowing Daniel Kretinsky to enter the publishing market in France.
Vivendi’s acquisition of Lagardère, a group also present in the media, remains examined by the European Commission at this stage.
Kretinsky already at the head of a small media empire
Since 2018, Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, already at the head of a small media empire in his country and a powerful energy group, has bought numerous media outlets in France. It notably controls Marianne, Elle, Télé 7 Jours, 45% of the video media Loopsider and more than 5% of the TF1 group.
The largest shareholder of Fnac-Darty, the 48-year-old businessman is also trying to acquire part of the IT group Atos and is participating in the takeover of the distributor Casino.