The Who’s Who social directory is changing hands. The businessman Franck Papazian bought for an unknown amount the big red book that refers to “the people who matter”. Founder of Mediaschool, a group of communication and journalism schools, Franck Papazian initiated a shift towards the press in 2017 by acquiring BC News, Strategies, pub AND The luxury journal.
“I decided to move from the education group to the media group,” he said Thursday night, a guest on BFM Business.
Mediaschool has 10,000 students in 15 cities in France and four abroad. Franck Papazian now wants to get rid of him. The sale process “is underway”, he revealed, without specifying whether potential buyers have already come forward.
A group of press articulated around the influence
His objective now is to “create a group of press articulated around the influence.” The acquisition of Who’s Who, launched in 1953 by the publisher Jacques Lafitte, will contribute to this. Distributed in 5,000 copies, this directory lists around 22,000 French personalities in various fields: crafts, science, politics, art, culture, sport…
Originally more mixed, the ranking is now largely dominated by business leaders who make up 47%. For the new head of the red book, the “woman’s place” in this ranking is very important. Now they represent 30% of the listed personalities.
“We are going to work a lot to try to create a balance. We would also like to open it up to young talents and regions because the Who’s Who is still very Parisian”, acknowledges the sales manager.
Among other areas of development, Franck Papazian intends to organize “Who’s Who Dinners” and create the Antoine Hébrard prize, in homage to the creator of this dictionary, who died a month ago. He doesn’t want to stay there and wants to buy Gala magazine.
Source: BFM TV
