French publisher Olivier Nora in Paris, May 17, 2019 OLIVIER ROLLER/DIVERGENCE
"If they want to kick me out, they'll kick me out," Grasset CEO Olivier Nora used to say about the French publishing house's owner, the Hachette Livre group of Vincent Bolloré. Since the billionaire's firm Vivendi took control of France's leading publishing group in 2023, Grasset's charismatic leader feared he would meet the same fate as Arnaud Nourry, Hachette Livre's CEO of 17 years, or Sophie de Closets, former head of Hachette subsidiary Fayard, who both left their positions over disagreements with Vivendi's management even before the acquisition was formalized. It has now come to pass.
Confirming reports by L'Express and Le Canard Enchaîné on Tuesday, April 14, Hachette Livre's management announced the same day that Nora would be stepping down. Nora had led Fayard and another publisher, Calmann-Lévy, since 1995, before becoming president of Grasset in 2000. News of his departure sent shockwaves through the tight-knit French publishing world, which saw in the dismissal a sudden and forceful reassertion of Bolloré's control over the sector, just days before the Paris Book Festival opens on April 17.
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