The founders
Arnaud Nourry
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer
A graduate of ESCP Europe, Arnaud Nourry studied finance before beginning his career as a consultant.
In 1990 he joined Groupe Lagardère as an auditor, and moved on to become Deputy CFO of Hachette Livre. In that capacity, he contributed to the acquisition of the textbook publisher Alexandre Hatier, of which he was subsequently appointed CEO.
In 2003, he was assigned the acquisition of several publishing houses belonging to Vivendi Universal Publishing when that company was put up for sale under the watchful supervision of the European Commission.
In 2003, he was appointed Chairman and CEO of Hachette Livre, then ranked #15 worldwide with sales of 800 million euros.
Eighteen years later, it was the world’s second largest publishing company with sales of 2.7 billion euros and an EBIT, multiplied four-fold, of 350 million. Already a leader of the French market, Hachette Livre had become by then #2 in the United Kingdom and #4 in the US.
He left Hachette Livre in 2021, having voiced his disapproval of a planned merger with Editis that eventually never materialized.
He has been President of ESCP-Europe’s Alumni Association, is a member of the Board of the European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR), the body that manages the Investec Champions Cup and EPCR’s Challenge Cup.
Besides Rugby, he is a serious connoisseur of wine and of classical music.
—→ arnaud@lesnouveauxediteurs.com