The major maneuvers continue within the M6 group. David Larramendy, who headed the advertising department of M6, was officially appointed chairman of the board of directors of the audiovisual group on Tuesday. He replaces the much-publicized Nicolas de Tavernost, who held the helm within the chain for 37 years.
The latter, 73 years old, has headed M6 since its creation in March 1987, first as deputy to the first CEO Jean Drucker then as boss since 2000. The group notably owns the TV channel of the same name and RTL radio.
Experienced in investment banking and e-commerce
Announced on February 13, the appointment of David Larramendy, 50, was ratified this Tuesday by the supervisory board, following the General Meeting, the group indicated in its first quarter results press release. The executive has headed the group’s advertising management since the end of 2014.
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He joined M6 in 2008, following having notably worked for the commercial website “Mistergooddeal” in the early 2000s, then for the investment bank Goldman Sachs in London. As general manager of M6 Publicité, he is replaced by Hortense Thomine-Desmazures, who was until then deputy general manager in charge of digital, innovation and marketing.
A challenge: moving M6 into the audiovisual sector of tomorrow
Its main challenge will be to move the M6 group into the audiovisual sector of tomorrow, while young people are turning away from traditional TV in favor of social networks and platforms such as Netflix.
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With successful shows like “ Top boss », « Love is in the meadow » or the last coming, “ The right price », M6 will accelerate on on-demand television by launching its new free streaming platform, M6+, in May, which will replace the current one, 6Play.
A final increase in turnover
In the first quarter of 2024, the audiovisual group achieved a turnover of 322.3 million euros, compared to 313 the previous year, it indicated in its results press release. “ Driven by the recovery of the TV advertising market », its advertising turnover is up 2%, to 252 million euros.
In addition to the historic channel M6, the media group includes the stations RTL, RTL 2, Fun Radio, and the channels W9, Teva, Paris Première and the children’s channel Gulli. Under the direction of Tavernost, successful shows like “ Top boss », « Beijing express », « Loft story », first French reality TV show.
The task of succeeding an iconic boss
Under the direction of Nicolas de Tavernost, the one which was called in its beginnings the “ small chain that goes up » has innovated and diversified, reaching record margin levels of more than 20%. But without succeeding in exceeding 10% monthly audience share, behind TF1 and France 2. The emblematic manager has always defended the interests of a channel initially predominantly musical, which became generalist, then a media group.
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« What pays off is the consistency of the driver, totally attentive to his successive shareholders », Greeted in 2021, to AFP, regarding Nicolas de Tavernost, the media expert Jean-Clément Texier. Even if instead of “trying to create a powerful Bertelsmann in France, he wanted to stay in his lane, to defend its share price, its dividend and its results”. « The more people say that he is stingy or penniless, the more it pleases him », also noted the expert.
Despite his many successes at the head of the chain, the charismatic boss has also experienced setbacks. Its biggest will remain the failure of the merger between TF1 and M6. “ A missed opportunity to create a large French group that brought together the skills of two large private groups », Confided the media tycoon to BFM Business last November.
(With AFP)
