Média-Participations (French pronunciation: [medja paʁtisipasjɔ̃]) is a French media concern, controlled by a Belgian holding concern, specialized in Franco-Belgian comics. It has some forty publishers in its portfolio, including Dupuis, Dargaud, Le Lombard, Fleurus, La Martinière, and Abrams.
 | |
| Founded | September 20, 1986 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Rémy Montagne |
| Key people |
|
| Publication types | Comics, DVDs, magazines |
| Imprints | Microids Dupuis Dargaud Le Lombard Fleurus |
| Revenue | €302 million (2007) |
| No. of employees | 900 (2009) |
| Official website | www |
History
editMédia-Participations was created in 1986 by Rémy Montagne, a politician who had been a member of the French Parliament for three decades before starting in the publishing business. After his death in 1991, he was succeeded by his son Vincent. The company was first called Ampère and focused on the acquisition of a number of struggling Christian publishing houses like Fleurus. In 1986, the group changed its name to Média-Participations and focused more on Franco-Belgian comics, which started when they acquired Le Lombard in 1986 and Dargaud in 1988.
In 2004, Média-Participations acquired Dupuis after a bid on Editis failed. In 2008, Média-Participations renewed its bid on Editis, now for more than €1 billion.[1]
The publisher is now the third largest publisher of France, and the major Franco-Belgian comics publisher.[2] Of the 32 million books published a year, 20 million are comics. Magazine sales also reach 30 million copies a year. The group publishes around 600 publications a year, some 13% of the total number of Franco-Belgian comics, but these represent almost a third of the sales of comics in France.[3]
In 2009 it acquired a French computer software company, Anuman Interactive.
In 2018, the company acquired La Martinière Groupe.[4][5]
Current structure
editComics
editComics and manga are published by six different publishers: the general audience publishers of Franco-Belgian comics Dupuis, Dargaud and Le Lombard, the publisher of manga Kana, and the specialized publishers Lucky Comics (for Lucky Luke) and Blake et Mortimer.
Animation
edit- Belvision
- Dreamwall
- Dargaud Media
- Ellipsanime
- Dupuis Audiovisuel
- Mediatoon Distribution
- Storimages
Magazines
edit- Spirou, published by Dupuis
- Famille chrétienne, published by Edifa
- different magazines by Rustica, including Système D
Books
edit- Editions Chronique for thematic publications
- Le Ballon for children's books
- Fleurus for a wide variety of books, including many children's books
- La Martinière Groupe
VideoGames
edit- Syberia Series (as. Syberia, Syberia II and Syberia III is in development.) by: Microïds an Anuman software brand.
- Still Life series (as. Post Mortem, Still Life and Still Life 2) by: Microïds
- Dracula Series
Notes
edit- ^ "Media-Participations makes over 1 bln eur bid for Wendel's Editis". Forbes. 28 March 2008. Retrieved 7 April 2009.[dead link]
- ^ David, Christian (1 October 2004). "Vincent Montagne géant discret de l'édition" (in French). L'Expansion. Retrieved 7 April 2009.
- ^ "Bilan 2009". ACBD. December 2009. Archived from the original on October 4, 2010. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
- ^ "French publishers la Martiniere, Media-Participations hold merger talks". Reuters. 21 September 2017.
- ^ "Willkie Advises la Martinière Groupe in its Combination with Média-Participations | News | Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP".