Hachette () is a French publisher. Founded in 1826 by

Louis Hachette Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis (d ...

as Brédif, the company later became L. Hachette et Compagnie, Librairie Hachette, Hachette SA and Hachette Livre in France. After acquiring an Australian publisher, Hachette Australia was created; in the UK it became Hachette UK, and its expansion into the United States became Hachette Book Group USA.

History

France

It was founded in 1826 by

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 (), the flagship imprint of Lagardère Publishing. Hachette has its headquarters in the

15th arrondissement of Paris 15 (fifteen) is the natural number following 14 and preceding 16. Mathematics 15 is: * A composite number, and the sixth semiprime; its proper divisors being , and . * A deficient number, a smooth number, a lucky number, a pernicious nu ...

. In 1996, it merged with the

Hatier Hatier () is a French publishing house specializing in scholarly works and educational materials, now integrated into the Hachette group. Founded in 1880 by Alexandre Hatier, Hatier obtains 20% of its sales through international affiliates in ...

group. In 2004, Hachette acquired dictionary publisher Éditions Larousse.

International expansion

In 2002, UK publisher John Murray was acquired by

Hodder Headline Headline Publishing Group is a British publishing brand and former company. It was founded in 1986 by Tim Hely Hutchinson. In 1993, Headline bought Hodder & Stoughton and the company became Hodder Headline Ltd. In 1999, Hodder Headline was acqui ...

, which was itself acquired in 2004 by the Lagardère Group. Since then, it has been an imprint under Lagardère brand known as Hachette UK. In 2004, Lagardère acquired Australian publisher

for Hachette Livre, who renamed it Hachette Australia. 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. Part of Time Warner's holdings was Australian independent publishing house Lothian Books, which was incorporated as an imprint. In June 2013, Hachette announced that it would acquire the adult trade business of

Hyperion Books Hyperion Books can refer to: * Hachette Books, book publishing division formerly known as Hyperion Books * Disney-Hyperion, an imprint that was retained by Disney Publishing Worldwide when its division, Hyperion Books, was sold to Hachette USA publi ...

from Disney. (Disney retained the young adult business and books related to existing Disney–ABC TV properties, under an expanded Disney–Hyperion imprint.) In 2018, it announced its ''Robinson Millenials'' label, under which it would be publishing webcomics in partnership with Hiveworks Comics. Hachette UK acquired

Laurence King Publishing Laurence King Publishing is an publishing house based in London, with offices in Europe and the USA. It was founded by Laurence King in 1991. Laurence King Publishing publish over 120 new titles every year for the mainstream adult, children's and ...

, original publisher of adult colouring book author and illustrator

Johanna Basford Johanna Basford (born 1983) is a Scottish illustrator. Her illustrations are hand-drawn, predominantly in black and white, with pencils and pens. Basford's works can be found in products such as colouring books, wallpaper, beer labels and even ...

, in August 2020.

Corporate affairs

Hachette has its headquarters in the Beaugrenelle district in the

. 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. In June 2014, the company's U.S. affiliate in conjunction with

Perseus Books Group Perseus Books Group was an American publishing company founded in 1996 by investor Frank Pearl. Perseus acquired the trade publishing division of Addison-Wesley (including the Merloyd Lawrence imprint) in 1997. It was named Publisher of the Ye ...

, 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. The deal eventually went through in April 2016 with Perseus's publishing assets and imprints going to Hachette, and distribution assets to Ingram.

Company structure

Hachette Livre is involved in three core businesses: publishing, partworks and distribution.

Publishing

Hachette Livre has book publishing operations in their native France, as well as in Spain, Latin and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

(the former mostly in Mexico), the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, Russia,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, New Zealand, India,

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, the Arab world (mostly in Lebanon and Morocco) and

Francophone French became an international language in the Middle Ages, when the power of the Kingdom of France made it the second international language, alongside Latin. This status continued to grow into the 18th century, by which time French was the l ...

sub-saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...

Partworks

Hachette distributes partworks to France, Belgium,

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, Canada, Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Ecuador, Chile,

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

, Mexico, Peru, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland,

, New Zealand, South Africa, Italy, Greece, Germany, Austria, Poland,

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Russia, the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, Belarus, Croatia, Hungary and Bulgaria. *Hachette Collections (France; also distributed in Francophone parts of Belgium,

and Canada) *Kolekcja Hachette (Poland)
Hachette Partworks Ltd.
(United Kingdom) *Hachette Kollektsia (Russia) *Hachette Fascicoli (Italy; also distributed in Greece, Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia, Hungary and Bulgaria) *Hachette Collections Japan *Editorial Salvat (Spain and Latin America)

Distribution

*Hachette Livre Distribution (France) *Dilibel (Belgium) *Diffulivre (Switzerland) *Hachette Canada *Lightning Source France (joint venture with

Lightning Source Lightning Source is a printer and distributor of print-on-demand books. The company is a business unit of Ingram Content Group. Originally incorporated in 1996 as Lightning Print Inc., the company is headquartered in La Vergne, Tennessee. Its UK ...

) *Bookpoint (United Kingdom) *Hachette UK Distribution *Alliance Distribution Services (Australia) *HBG Cilent Services (United States) *Comercial Grupo Anaya (Spain)

Notes and references

External links

* {{Portal bar, France, Companies, Books 01 Book publishing companies of France French speculative fiction publishers Companies based in Paris Publishing companies established in 1826 French companies established in 1826 Mass media in Paris Lagardère Active Reference publishers