The Les Echos-Le Parisien group has entered into exclusive negotiations to become the majority shareholder of the OpinionWay survey and research institute, which would expand its offer of information and services to companies, its CEO, Pierre Louette, announced on Tuesday.
At the end of this acquisition, the amount of which has not been disclosed, the group -which groups in particular the echoesFrance’s leading business daily, the parisian, Radio Classique or Investir- will hold 75% of the capital of OpinionWay, specialized in marketing studies and opinion polls. Hugues Cazenave and Yann Aledo, co-founders of the institute in 2000, and their management team will retain 25% of the shares. For Les Echos-Le Parisien, the goal is to strengthen “where we are already strong,” explained Pierre Louette.
OpinionWay thus joins the group’s business services division, already provided with subsidiaries present in the field of sectoral or prospective studies (Les Echos Etudes, Les Echos Publishing, Netexplo, etc.) and communication services for companies ( Pelham Media, Les Echos-Le Parisian partners). This division also offers companies a range of events and trade shows, such as VivaTech (co-founded with Publicis), ChangeNow or Investir Day.
“Complementarities”
OpinionWay, which employs 140 employees, “will maintain a great deal of autonomy” and remain in its facilities, Pierre Louette said. The company will continue to develop “new approaches” to research and surveys, according to the CEO. Semantic artificial intelligence, collection and analysis of data on the web, in particular to predict trends and behavior: these solutions implemented by OpinionWay will allow the group, a subsidiary of the luxury giant LVMH, to personalize many of its services for companies.
“Complementarities” are also expected in the media activities: “the existing collaboration with Les Echos in opinion or social polls could be extended to other titles of the group”, it is indicated in a joint press release. In addition to these commercial “synergies”, the operation would allow OpinionWay to “accelerate its development and internationalization” and “invest in new methodologies and more innovative and efficient digital tools”, explains Hugues Cazenave, president of the institute, quoted in the press release. press.
Reconfiguration
OpinionWay, which owns four subsidiaries à l’étranger (Maroc, Algérie, Côte d’Ivoire, Pologne), registered 20 million chiffre d’affaires in 2021, des revenus en croissance de 10% para an en moyenne depuis 2018, selon the society. Sign of a reconfiguration of the sector, Ipsos, counterpart and competitor of OpinionWay, was bought on Monday by the investment fund LFPI.
The announcement of the OpinionWay/Les Echos-Le Parisien merger comes less than three weeks after the takeover of the monthly Mieux vivre votre argent, which has come to enrich the financial information center of the Les Echos-Le Parisien group. It is made up of the Investir title, the Boursier.com site, acquired in 2019 from Lagardère, as well as the Wansquare site and the Expansion Letter, intended for professionals and acquired in October 2021.
Since 2018 and with the appointment of Pierre Louette as director, the Les Echos-Le Parisien group has accelerated its transition to digital and has multiplied targeted acquisitions. It has strengthened its position in two other sectors: classical music (with the acquisition of EuroArts, 50% of Medici.tv and 50% of the Mezzo channel) and the arts (Connaissance des arts magazine, Salon du dessin de Paris, Fine Arts editions of Paris, Citadelles and Mazenod).
Source: BFM TV
