In reporting half year results, French conglomerate Vivendi announced that they are in “exclusive negotiations with Grupo Planeta” to acquire the French book publishing division Editis. (Once upon a time, Editis was owned by a different incarnation of Vivendi, Vivendi Universal Publishing, which also used to own Houghton Mifflin. Hachette Livre bought and retained 40 percent of the European Editis empire in 2004; the remainder was sold to Wendel Investments, which sold Editis to Planeta in 2008.) The announcement says Editis — France’s second-largest publisher after Hachette Livre — had 2017 sales of approximately €750 million and a recurring EBIT […]