Arnaud Lagardère inherited control of his father's group in 2003, lost it to Vivendi in 2023, and was charged with using company money to pay inheritance debt

Jean-Luc Lagardère built an aerospace, media and publishing group. After his sudden death in 2003 his son Arnaud took charge. A partnership-limited-by-shares structure let Arnaud control the group with a small stake. His holding company, Lagardère Capital Management, borrowed to buy shares; in March 2023 he said it had to repay 150 million euros to BNP, a loan that replaced one from Crédit Agricole taken out 15 years earlier. Vincent Bolloré's Vivendi took effective control in November 2023 and held 59.8 percent at the end of that year. On 29 April 2024 a Paris judge placed Arnaud under formal investigation for vote buying, abuse of corporate assets, abuse of power, breach of trust, spreading false or misleading information and failure to publish accounts. He is suspected of using about 80 million euros of company funds for personal costs, including debt tied to his inheritance. He was banned from managing companies, posted 200,000 euros bail, and stepped down after 21 years as chief executive. He contests the charges, says they mainly concern his wholly owned personal companies, and is presumed innocent. In June 2024 he partly regained the right to manage and returned as chief executive under an agreement with the Bolloré family running to 2027, at 3.5 million euros a year. In August 2024 he sold about 8.5 million shares to Vivendi for 205 million euros to clear his debts. He kept 5.12 percent of the group his father founded.