The women's weekly Be absorbs its competitor Envy

Lagardere Group and Marie Claire have announced their merger on Friday weekly respective female, Be and Envy, to better hold their own game on this promising segment, but crowded.

In practice, only subsist Be, including a new formula is scheduled for October, to better address Grazia, a weekly launched a year ago by the Italian group Mondadori.

A joint venture, owned 80% by Lagardère Active Media division of Lagardère and audiovisual, and 20% by the Marie Claire, Be and publish the weekly audience of celebrities Lagardere, which will provide the advertising.

Led by Bruno Lescouëf, Director General of French magazine publications of Lagardere Active, the new entity will not seek to accommodate other titles.

The new Be, which always appear on Friday, will continue to claim as "high-end women's generational," then qu'Envy was positioned on the celebrity niche where competition is fierce and will remain the prerogative of the only audience, launched 2003.

"The moment we move from three to two magazines, there is a double benefit for the broadcasting and advertising," he said during a conference call Didier Quillot, CEO of Lagardere Active, the world's leading magazines public.

"We will create a virtuous cycle, it will no longer have to create promos each week," he said, adding that this would have implications for improving the economic equation of Be, which is still stalled in three years.

LAGARDÈRE LOOKING TO LEAVE OF MARIE CLAIRE

Lagardère created earlier this year the brand Be, both magazine, website, television series, application for the iPhone and web radio.

Lagardere Active has confirmed Thursday, when the publication of interim results of the group, he had achieved 40 million euros in savings this year.

The marriage comes as Lagardere seeks to leave the capital of Marie Claire, which owns 42%, as part of its strategy to sales of minority stakes.

"Whatever happens between our two groups elsewhere in the capital intensive discussions, the approximation for a single magazine will continue," said Didier Quillot.

Be broadcasts, Grazia and Envy are quite close, around 170,000 to 175,000 copies, while Target is around 420,000 units.The goal for the new Be is to reach 180,000 to 200,000 copies in 2011.

She, the flagship magazine of Lagardere Active, could he, reaching 385,000 in late 2010.

Lagardere also hopes to benefit from the upturn in advertising revenues, which allowed him to meet Thursday evening its target for operating profit for 2010.

The group now expects growth of about 3% of advertising revenue in 2010 Lagardere Active and not stagnation, with a jump of 6% expected in the third quarter as the second.

Jean-Paul Lubot, deputy CEO of the group Marie Claire, that provides the same functions within the new entity, said a portion of 35-40 people working for Envy or be reclassified at Be in the group Marie Claire .

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