LVMH Expands Media Empire with Acquisition of Challenges in France

LVMH continues to expand its media footprint. Claude Perdriel, majority shareholder of Challenges, has announced to AFP that he has reached an agreement for the sale of the economic and political weekly to the French luxury group owned by Bernard Arnault.

The deal, which has not yet been confirmed by LVMH, will integrate Challenges and its scientific masthead Sciences et Avenir into a rapidly expanding media group. For the 98-year-old Perdriel, “the essential thing is that the magazine remains in good hands and continues with a shareholder determined to defend it”.

LVMH already controls Les Echos-Le Parisien, which groups together the two newspapers of the same name and Radio Classique. Earlier this year, the group strengthened its presence in the press with the purchase of the liberal daily L’Opinion and the financial portal L’Agefi, in which it already had stakes.

The acquisition of Challenges thus reinforces a diversification strategy that positions LVMH as one of the major players in the Frenchmedia ecosystem, combining economic, political and cultural information with its core business in fashion and luxury.

LVMH already owns other French media such as Les Echos and Le Parisien

Founded in 1982 and acquired in 1987 by Claude Perdriel, Challenges defines itself as an “independent and non-partisan economic and political magazine”. The title has been adjusting its circulation in recent years: according to the ACPM (Alliance pour les Chiffres de la Presse et des Médias), it sold an average of more than 140,000 copies per issue in 2024, compared to 183,000 in 2020.

The weekly’s editorial staff warned the future owner this week that it will have to preserve editorial independence and maintain the traditional annual ranking of France’s biggest fortunes. In the 2025 edition, the Arnault family is in second position, having been displaced by the heirs of Hermès after eight years of leadership.

The transfer marks the end of an era for Perdriel, a historical figure of the French press, who will be 99 years old next month. In this scenario, the entry of LVMH brings financial stability, but raises questions about the balance between editorial independence and business interests.