Philippe Amaury

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Philippe Amaury (born March 6, 1940 in the Oise department ; † May 23, 2006 ) was a French publisher and one of the most influential entrepreneurs in the French economy.

life and work

Amaury was the son of the publisher Emilien Amaury, who founded the daily newspaper “Parisien libéré” in 1944 immediately after the liberation from fascism. Amaury fils studied political science and received a doctorate in law . However, his father had not intended him as his successor, but his daughter Francine. After a fatal riding accident in 1977, a legal dispute broke out between the two siblings, which could not be ended until 1983 with an amicable settlement. While Philippe Amaury took over newspapers such as the sports newspaper L'Équipe and the tabloid Le Parisien , Francine Amaury headed magazines such as “Marie-France”, “Point de Vue Images du Monde” and was also responsible for public relations.

"Le Parisien"

From 1975 to 1977, Parisien suffered a self-destructive conflict with the communist trade union CGT , which dropped its circulation from 700,000 to 300,000 copies. Amaury père wanted to break the monopoly of the CGT, which almost ended in disaster for its leading medium . From 1983 onwards, Philippe Amaury corrected the negative image of «Parisien», which had been accused of xenophobic tendencies and an aggressive editorial line. Together with the editors Martin Desprez and Jean-Pierre Courcol, Amaury transformed «Parisien» into a popular quality newspaper.

The deficits of «Parisien» could be compensated by the profits of «L'Équipe», which became very profitable in the years 1980 to 1990. With 355,000 copies, “L'Équipe” (2006) is the best-selling daily newspaper in France, ahead of Le Monde (Le Parisien: 338,000 in 2005). Another conflict with the CGT from 2000 to 2001 led to a new delivery system for the «Parisien».

Sports publications

Further papers were added to the Éditions Philippe Amaury (EPA) or groupe Amaury for short : “L'Écho républicain”, “L'Équipe magazine”, “France Football” and “Vélo Magazine”. In 1992, Amaury founded the Amaury Sport Organization (ASO), with which he organized the Tour de France , the Paris-Dakar rally and other sporting events. Through its subsidiary Hachette Filipacchi Médias (HFM), Amaury held 25 percent of the shares in Lagardère Média, owned by the media and armaments group Groupe Lagardère , which made him one of the richest French. The annual turnover of the Amaury Group in 2004 was € 620 million, its value in 2006 was estimated at € 1 billion. The purchase of the Futuroscope amusement park near Poitiers in 2000 turned out to be a financial debacle . After three years, he had to sell it again with a loss of 35 million euros. As a result, Jean-Pierre Courcol , his long-time colleague and general director of the groupe Amaury, had to say goodbye.

family

As a media entrepreneur, he knew how to discreetly shield his private life and family from the public. Although he was like most media entrepreneurs shy of the public and gave almost no interviews like his German counterpart Leo Kirch , he still played a key role in the French economy.

Amaury passed away at the age of 66 after a long history of cancer. He leaves behind his wife Marie-Odile, Vice-President of Éditions Philippe Amaury and the children Aurore (* 1974), lawyer with Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP and director of strategic studies at groupe Amaury and Jean-Étienne (* 1977 ). Marie-Odile Amaury took over the management of the press group on May 23, 2006, both children were entrusted with management tasks and Martin Desprez is the new general manager of the operational business.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Short biography of E. Amaury: Emilien Amaury L'initiateur ( Memento from March 7, 2006 in the Internet Archive ), Syndicat Professionnel de la Presse Magazine et d'Opinion (SPPMO)
  2. ^ Pascale Santi: "Philippe Amaury, PDG du groupe de presse Amaury SA" , Le Monde , May 25, 2006
  3. ↑ Holger Alich: "The woman who earns twice with the" Tour "" , Handelsblatt , July 2, 2010

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Amaury, Philippe
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French media entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH March 6, 1940
PLACE OF BIRTH Oise department
DATE OF DEATH May 23, 2006