Former European president for AOL switches to Lagardere

by Mark Banham, Brand Republic 15-Dec-06, 16:00

LONDON - Carlo d'Asaro Biondo, the former European president of AOL, has been appointed as international managing director at French publisher Lagardere.

In his new role, Biondo will supervise the international subsidiaries of the new division combining the press, radio, TV and digital activities.

He left AOL after completing just six weeks in the role of president at the online firm. Biondo, who previously chief executive of AOL France and European strategy manager, was appointed in November.

Didier Quillot, chief executive of Lagardere Active Media, said: "I am delighted at Carlo's appointment, as he is a high-level international executive, who has held important responsibilities in the media, telecommunications and internet domains, and consequently is well prepared to guide LAM's intended strategic evolution towards digital. Additionally, he is Italian, and has a considerable depth and breadth of international knowledge and culture."

Operating in more than 40 countries, Lagardere is a French group and a leader in two areas, media and high technology.

The company owns Hachette Filipacchi, one of the world's leading magazine publishers, with 260 titles published in some 41 countries, a circulation of more than 1bn copies, and paid advertising of 130,000 pages a year.

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