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Hachette

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     Hachette chronology

This chronology is indicative only. There's a separate, more general communications and media timeline.

    beginnings

1826 Louis Hachette buys Paris bookstore Brédif and starts business as publisher

1852 Hachette launches Le Journal pour Tous, magazine for the general reader

1852 Hachette launches Bibliothèques des Chemins de Fer, sold through railway stalls

1863 Hachette launches his Dictionary of the French Language with his friend Littré

1864 Louis Hachette dies

1895 Grolier books founded in US

1907 Grasset publishing established by Bernard Grasset

1945 Matra (Mécanique Aviation TRAction) founded

1945 Hachette launches Elle

1953 Hachette and Henri Filipacchi launches Le Livre de Poche, France's leading paperback imprint

1954 Hachette buys Grasset

1962 Filipacchi Media created by Daniel Filipacchi and Frank Ténot to publish Hello magazine

1963 Jean-Luc Lagardère becomes CEO of Matra

1967 Hachette buys Fasquelle publishing

1972 Matra named prime contractor to build the first VAL automated transit system

1974 Matra-Simca wins Le Mans 24 hours race

1975 Matra becomes prime contractor for France's Ariane rocket

    takeover by missile-to-auto conglomerate

1981 Lagardère gains controlling stake in Hachette

1983 Matra Automobile launches Espace minivan, marketed by Renault

1985 Hachette buys stake in Belgian Dupuis printing, book publishing, television and magazine group

1985 Hachette launches Relais H news-stand concept

1988 Hachette buys former CBS magazine division (21 titles) from Diamandis press group

1988 Hachette buys US encyclopedia publisher Grolier

1989 Spanish government names Matra prime contractor for Hispasat satellite

1990 Hachette buys 65% of book distributor Payot Naville Distribution SA

1990 merger of Matra Espace and GEC Marconi aerospace division to form Europe's leading space contractor

1991 Orion buys Weidenfeld & Nicolson

1992 Matra Hachette is formed following Matra's merger with Hachette. South Korea becomes the fourth country in Asia to order Mistral missiles

1993 Hachette launches Axis multimedia encyclopedia

1993 Matra develops communication system for French police

1993 Hachette sells Dupuis stake

1994 Matra Marconi Space buys British Aerospace space division

1994 Lagardère Groupe launches successful share exchange offer for Matra Hachette, with 92.74% stake

1995 Matra buys CAD/CAM specialist Cisigraph

1995 Filipacchi buys Rolling Stone

1995 Hachette buys UCS, Canada's leading newsstand chain, and become no.3 press retailer in America.

1996 Matra BAe Dynamics formed through merger of missile subsidiaries of Lagardère and British Aerospace, ranking number 3 in World

1996 Hachette buys French publisher Alexandre HATIER. Elle launched in Russia, South Africa and India

1997 merger of Filipacchi Media and Hachette Filipacchi Presse

1997 two French daily newspapers, Le Provençal and Le Méridional, merged to form LA PROVENCE

1997 Matra Communication's 50% interest in MET Communication sold to Ericsson

1998 Hachette Multimédia formed through merger of Hachette Livre and Grolier Interactive

1998 Matra Communication and Nortel's activities in France merge

1998 Hachette buys Extrapole multimedia bookshop chain.

1998 Hachette buys Orion and Cassell

1998 Matra High Technology merges with Aerospatiale to form Aerospatiale Matra

1998 Hachette buys Japanese publisher Fujin Gaho

1999 Hachette buys 80% of Italian publisher Rusconi Editore

1999 Hachette buys majority stake in Gamma 2000 photo agency

1999 Lagardere gains 15% stake in EADS (European Areonautic Defence & Space) through merger of Aérospatiale Matra, Aeronauticas and Daimler Chrysler Aerospace

2000 Lagardere sells Grolier for US$400 million

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