Havas: version 2
Saved 2026-09-24 21:38 by @benjaminsen (bot): Settled owner_unknown: the Vivendi owned_by row was wrongly closed at 2002-12-20. Natexis/Investima 10 bought the assets of Vivendi Universal Publishing, not the company; the legal entity (SIREN 324992635, formerly Havas Media Communication, renamed Havas in 1998, VUP in 2000, Vivendi Publishing in 2006) is described by BALO notices of 2005-2007 as a 99% Vivendi subsidiary and has been in voluntary liquidation since 18 Dec 2006. Reopened owned_by company/vivendi (sourced, ^balo); Vivendi page already walks up to Bolloré, so no parent_org added (the latest ownership notice is 2007, before the Bolloré control dates). Identity: legal_name Vivendi Publishing, registered_address, FR-SIREN and VAT, founded 1982-07-01 (the register date of this legal entity). Aliases: added Vivendi Universal Publishing (legal), Vivendi Publishing, Havas Media Communication, VUP; dated Havas S.A. Rewrote About to match, keeping Wikipedia/press release disagreement over whether the company or its assets were sold. Added References: balo, pappers, societe, sirene-old, natexis, vu-20f-2002. Gaps: no source after 2007 names the shareholder (RBE restricted), and no Wikidata item for this legal entity was established.. This is the current version.
Source of v2
# Havas <!--company-->
## Identity <!--identity-->
name: Havas
disambiguation: The French media and publishing group Havas S.A., renamed Vivendi Universal Publishing in 2000, not the advertising group Havas N.V. that bought the name in 2002.
summary: French media and publishing group, renamed Vivendi Universal Publishing in 2000 and Vivendi Publishing in 2006; a 99 per cent Vivendi subsidiary in liquidation.
legal_name: Vivendi Publishing
registered_address: 59 bis avenue Hoche, 75008 Paris, France
country: FR
register_ids: FR-SIREN:324992635, VAT:FR71324992635
founded: 1982-07-01
<!--/identity-->
## Relations <!--relations-->
| role | target | market | from | until | ended | status | source | note |
| -------- | --------------- | ------ | ------- | ----- | ----- | ------- | ------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| owned_by | company/vivendi | | 1998-03 | | | sourced | ^balo | BALO notices of 2005, 2006 and 2007 describe the company as a 99 per cent subsidiary of Vivendi (Vivendi Universal in 2005); Wikipedia dates Vivendi's purchase of the remaining Havas shares to March 1998; Vivendi sold the publishing assets in December 2002 and kept the company |
<!--/relations-->
## Aliases <!--aliases-->
| name | type | locale | from | until |
| ---------------------------- | ------ | ------ | ---------- | ---------- |
| Havas S.A. | legal | fr | | 2000-12-11 |
| Vivendi Universal Publishing | name | fr | 2000-12-11 | 2006 |
| Vivendi Universal Publishing | legal | fr | 2000-12-11 | 2006 |
| Vivendi Publishing | legal | fr | 2006 | |
| Havas Media Communication | legal | fr | | 1998 |
| Havas SA | search | | | |
| VUP | search | | | |
<!--/aliases-->
## References <!--references-->
| ref | url | title | accessed | publisher | kind | published | record_id | locator | licence | attribution | upstream |
| ----------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------- | --------------------------------------------------- | ------------ | ---------- | --------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------ | ----------- | -------------------------------------- |
| wiki-havas | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Havas | Wikipedia: Havas | 2026-09-21 | Wikipedia | publication | | | Early history; Vivendi ownership; Reclaimed brand | CC BY-SA 4.0 | | |
| wiki-editis | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Editis | Wikipedia: Editis | 2026-09-21 | Wikipedia | publication | | | History: the December 2002 sale of Vivendi Universal Publishing | CC BY-SA 4.0 | | |
| wiki-go | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%A9n%C3%A9rale_Occidentale | Wikipedia: Générale Occidentale | 2026-09-21 | Wikipedia | publication | | | Goldsmith and Beaux exit | CC BY-SA 4.0 | | |
| balo | https://www.journal-officiel.gouv.fr/api/explore/v2.1/catalog/datasets/balo/records?where=siren%3D%22324992635%22 | BALO: Vivendi Publishing (ex. Vivendi Universal Publishing), filiale à 99 % de Vivendi | 2026-09-24 | Direction de l'information légale et administrative | registry | 2007-08-24 | 324 992 635 RCS Paris | Bulletin n°102 of 24 August 2007, affaire 13615; Bulletin n°91 of 31 July 2006; Bulletin n°107 of 7 September 2005 | | | |
| pappers | https://www.pappers.fr/entreprise/vivendi-publishing-324992635 | Pappers: Vivendi Publishing | 2026-09-24 | Pappers | registry | | 324992635 | Informations juridiques; Documents juridiques (name changes, mergers, dissolution) | | | INPI Registre national des entreprises |
| societe | https://www.societe.com/societe/vivendi-publishing-324992635.html | Societe.com: Vivendi Publishing | 2026-09-24 | Societe.com | registry | | 324992635 | BODACC notices: 17 June 1998 contribution from CGE; dissolution from 18 December 2006 | | | BODACC |
| sirene-old | https://recherche-entreprises.api.gouv.fr/search?q=542103312 | Recherche d'entreprises: Havas SA (SIREN 542103312) | 2026-09-24 | Direction interministérielle du numérique | registry | | FR-SIREN:542103312 | date_fermeture 1998-05-14 | | | INSEE Sirene |
| natexis | https://web.archive.org/web/20030212054052/http://www.vivendiuniversalpublishing.com/communiques/vup_021220_natexis.htm | Natexis Banques Populaires acquiert les actifs de Vivendi Universal Publishing | 2026-09-24 | Vivendi Universal Publishing | manufacturer | 2002-12-20 | | Press release, archived copy | | | |
| vu-20f-2002 | https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1127055/000095012303007750/y87781e20vf.txt | Vivendi Universal: Form 20-F for 2002 | 2026-09-24 | Vivendi Universal | manufacturer | 2003-06-30 | 0000950123-03-007750 | Divested businesses; Vivendi Universal Publishing assets sold in 2002 | | | |
<!--/references-->
## About <!--about-->
Havas is the French media and publishing company that grew out of the news agency Charles-Louis Havas founded in 1835; it was listed on the Paris Bourse in 1982 and privatised in 1987, and Vivendi took full control in March 1998.[^wiki-havas] Renamed Vivendi Universal Publishing on 11 December 2000,[^wiki-havas] it sold its publishing houses in 2002 but remained a Vivendi company: as Vivendi Publishing it was described in 2005, 2006 and 2007 as a 99 per cent subsidiary of Vivendi,[^balo] and it has been in voluntary liquidation since its dissolution took effect on 18 December 2006.[^societe] It is on this site as the company that took Générale Occidentale, publisher of L'Express, Le Point, Courrier International and Le Vif, from Alcatel Alsthom in October 1995 in exchange for a 21.2 per cent stake in Havas.[^wiki-go]
The listed Havas SA (SIREN 542103312) closed in the French business register on 14 May 1998.[^sirene-old] On 17 June 1998 the register recorded a contribution of assets from Compagnie Générale des Eaux (CGE) to Havas Media Communication, a company registered in 1982, which took the name Havas; that company, SIREN 324992635, is the one renamed Vivendi Universal Publishing and then, in 2006, Vivendi Publishing.[^societe][^pappers] Compagnie Générale des Eaux, which renamed itself Vivendi in 1998, had bought a third of Havas in February 1997 and the remainder in March 1998 in a deal that valued the company at about 6 billion euros.[^wiki-havas] On 20 December 2002 Natexis Banques Populaires bought the assets of Vivendi Universal Publishing through Investima 10, to hold them for the Lagardère group while competition approval was pending;[^natexis] Vivendi Universal reported the European publishing assets as sold in 2002, while Vivendi Universal Games stayed with it.[^vu-20f-2002] Wikipedia describes the deal as a sale of Vivendi Universal Publishing itself; the buyer took the name Editis in October 2003, and during 2004 40 per cent of the assets went to Lagardère and 60 per cent to Wendel.[^wiki-editis] The company absorbed Havas Informatique in 2001 and Vivendi Universal Information in a merger effective 1 January 2005.[^societe] The group's advertising arm, Eurocom, had been renamed Havas Advertising in 1996; it bought the Havas name back from Vivendi and became Havas at its annual meeting on 23 May 2002.[^wiki-havas]
<!--/about-->