Hachette (French pronunciation: ​[a.ʃɛt]) is a French publisher. Founded in 1826 by Louis Hachette as Brédif, the company later became L. Hachette et Compagnie, Librairie Hachette, Hachette SA and Hachette Livre in France. After acquiring an Australian publisher, Hachette Australia was created; in the UK it became Hachette UK, and its expansion into the United States became Hachette Book Group USA.

It was founded in 1826 by Louis Hachette as Brédif, a bookshop and publishing company. It became L. Hachette et Compagnie on 1 January 1846, Librairie Hachette in 1919, and Hachette SA in 1977. It was acquired by the Lagardère Group in 1981. In 1992 the publishing assets of Hachette SA were grouped into a subsidiary called Hachette Livre (French pronunciation: ​[a.ʃɛt liːvʁ]), the flagship imprint of Lagardère Publishing. Hachette has its headquarters in the 15th arrondissement of Paris.^[1] In 1996 it merged with the Hatier group. In 2004, Hachette acquired dictionary publisher Éditions Larousse.

In 2002, the UK publisher John Murray was acquired by Hodder Headline, which was itself acquired in 2004 by the Lagardère Group. Since then, it has been an imprint under Lagardère brand known as Hachette UK.^[2]

In 2004 Lagardère acquired Australian publisher Hodder Headline for Hachette Livre, who renamed it Hachette Australia.^[3]

In 2006, it expanded into the United States when it purchased Time Warner's book-publishing division, which was then renamed Hachette Book Group USA. Part of Time Warner's holdings was Australian independent publishing house Lothian Books, which was incorporated as an imprint.^[4]

In June 2013, Hachette announced that it would acquire Hyperion Books from Disney.^[5]

In 2018, it announced its Robinson Millenials label, under which it would be publishing webcomics in partnership with Hiveworks Comics.^[6]

Hachette has its headquarters in the Beaugrenelle district in the 15th arrondissement of Paris.^[7][8]

Hachette's head office previously occupied a building at the intersection of Saint-Germain and Saint-Michel in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés area. It later moved to its current location.^[9]

Hachette planned to lease 9,900 square metres (107,000 sq ft) of space at a building in Malakoff, Hauts de Seine around 2011, even though the building in the 15th arrondissement was being renovated.^[8]

In June 2014, the company's U.S. affiliate in conjunction with Perseus Books Group, and Ingram Content Group, announced a three-way deal whereby Hachette would buy Perseus and then sell the company's client services businesses to Ingram. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.^[10] However, in August 2014, the deal was called off because Hachette and the other parties involved decided the deal was too complicated.^[11] The deal eventually went through in April 2016 with Perseus's publishing assets and imprints going to Hachette, and distribution assets to Ingram.^[12]