- Jean-Luc Lagardère
Jean-Luc Lagardère (
February 10 ,1928 -March 14 ,2003 ) was a major French businessman, CEO of theLagardere Group , one of the largest French conglomerates.Jean-Luc Lagardère was a "
Supelec "engineer . He began his career inDassault Aviation . CEO ofMatra in the 1960s, he became famous with success inFormula 1 andLe Mans . He later built a large media and defense conglomerate that bears his name. He was a member of theSaint-Simon Foundation think-tank.In 1981, with his friend
Daniel Filipacchi , he purchased Hachette magazines, which included the French "TV Guide" ("Tele 7 Jours"), and the then-struggling "Elle " magazine. "Elle" was then launched in the U.S., followed by 25 foreign editions. Filipacchi and Lagardère then expanded Hachette Filipacchi Magazines in the U.S. with the purchase of Diamandis Communications Inc. (formerly CBS magazines), including "Woman's Day", "Car and Driver", "Road and Track", "Flying", "Boating", and many others.Thoroughbred horse racing
Lagardère was a prominent figure in French
horse racing . In 1981, he purchased the renownedHaras d'Ouilly stud inPont-d'Ouilly ,Calvados that had been owned byFrançois Dupré and raced under their famous colors of gray with a pink cap. At one time, his operation had as many as 220 horses. He won the French owners' championship in 1998 and between 1995 and 2001 was the leading breeder in France. His most important racing win came withSagamix who won the 1998Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe .Upon its formation in 1995, Jean-Luc Lagardère served as the first president of
France-Galop . On his death in 2003, the business was taken over by his son Arnaud who sold Haras d'Ouilly and its entire bloodstock in 2005 to theAga Khan IV .In 2002, the
Group One Grand Critérium race for two-year-olds atLongchamp Racecourse was renamed in his honor.References
* [http://www.ntra.com/stats_bios.aspx?id=1945 Jean-Luc Lagardere at the NTRA]
*Madjar, Robert (1997).Daniel Filipacchi . Editions Michel Lafon
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.