Laurent de la Clergerie, chairman of the board of directors of the LDLC group, was at the center of an episode of Patron Incognito on M6. He also made his mark in media news with his presence in Capital. Studies, career path, LDLC School, 4-day week… We tell you everything about this manager who displays a very different vision of the company.
The studies of Laurent de la Clergerie
Laurent de la Clergerie studied at the Collège La Fosse Aux Dames, an establishment of the Versailles academy (78) located in Les Clayes-sous-Bois. From a young age, he showed an interest in the world of technology. Indeed, he was at the origin of the creation of the computer club in 1982. Two years later, Laurent de la Clergerie joined the Lycée Jean Perrin which is located in Lyon. He obtained a bac C, which could be the equivalent of a bac S, with a mathematics option.
Upon leaving high school, the man who is currently president of LDLC opted to study at an engineering school. He therefore joined CPE Lyon where he obtained an engineering diploma in electronics and computer science. He specialized in image processing. He will be very involved in the associative life of the establishment since he will be a member of the BDE from 1991 to 1992. He will also be responsible for the organization of the school gala in 1994. He will later admit in an interview that, If he had to do it again, he would rather choose a management school diploma.
The beginnings of Laurent de la Clergerie’s entrepreneurship
After his military service, Laurent de la Clergerie tried to turn his passion for IT into a profession. He was therefore passionate about the internet and the e-economy sector and launched into entrepreneurship in 1996. He confided in the site ecommercemag.fr. In an interview he explains: “ I think my desire to be an entrepreneur goes back to kindergarten! I wanted to be independent, manage my own affairs, run everything. »
The president of LDLC therefore began his business with the resale of electronic and computer products. He makes 10 sales the first month, 30 the second month and everything is booming. In 1997, he had the chance to win nearly €15,000 during a treasure hunt launched by Paris Match. He will therefore reinvest all this sum in his company, to develop it and open his first store, in 1998, in Lyon.
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The IPO and rise of LDLC
Very quickly, LDLC became a family affair. Laurent de la Clergerie brings in his sister Caroline, who will take on the role of administrative director. His brother Olivier also joins the adventure and becomes general manager of the group. The objective? Ramp up LDLC.
This strategy will first result in an IPO, which will take place in 2000. During this operation, the group will succeed in raising 3 million euros. The development of LDLC also involves the acquisition of competitors and a diversification strategy. In 2000, the group bought Hardware.fr, a site dedicated to IT news. It will also acquire other companies that operate in the same market, such as Materiel.net (2016), BIMP (2017) and Top Achat (2020). These various operations thus position LDLC as one of the leaders in the IT market.
In terms of diversification, the group will launch into various subjects, starting with childcare, in 2015, with L’Armoire de Bébé, a company which today has 4 stores. In 2004, LDLC also launched DLP Connect, a company specializing in equipment installation, networks, home automation and video surveillance. In 2007, Anikop was born. This entity of the LDLC group has been publishing software for 15 years now. Finally, in 2008, Laurent de la Clergerie and his teams created Maginéa.com, a company dedicated to home and building exterior equipment. However, the LDLC group ended the activities of Maginéa.com in 2019.
The last strategic axis of LDLC’s growth is the opening of stores. In 2006, the group’s second store opened its doors in Paris, in 15e. Quickly, Laurent de la Clergerie decided to set up a franchise system, leading to the opening of more than 50 stores in France today.
At the end of 2020, the LDLC group had 724.1 million euros in turnover, 1,000 employees and more than 50,000 references on its site. It claims up to 25,000 packages shipped per day!
The caring management of Laurent de la Clergerie and the 4-day week
In a text published on LinkedIn At the end of 2021, Laurent de la Clergerie returns to one of the biggest projects he has ever carried out: the 4-day week. He says the idea came to him after reading an article about Microsoft in Japan.
During LDLC’s anniversary, January 25, 2021, Laurent de la Clergerie made the decision to move all his employees to 4 days a week, while paying them over 5 days. For him, the results are spectacular: “ A few days ago we communicated the figures for our first half of the year 100% worked 4 days. Overall, 6% growth, 20% profit gain and a negative balance between hiring and departure. No loss of efficiency… In fact it’s even worse than that if we go into detail. Noting from the start that the effects were super effective in terms of efficiency and that it cost the company nothing and even that it brought us money, we even reevaluated the salaries at the NAO [Négociations annuelles obligatoires, NDLR] of 2021. »
This commitment by Laurent de la Clergerie is also reflected on an ecological level. Regretting only selling products from China, the president of LDLC wishes to get involved in projects in which he finds meaning. He thus wants to develop several concepts. The first is a farm where the farmers are employees and not self-employed. He also intends to set up a vegetarian fast food restaurant. Furthermore, Laurent de la Clergerie is committed to Time for the Planet where he is associated.
The 4-day week is also one of Laurent de la Clergerie’s biggest struggles, who recognizes that it is one of the best managerial decisions he has made. In fact, he notes that the teams are much more productive. It is also on this subject that he was interviewed by Capital.
The LDLC School, Laurent de la Clergerie’s other committed project
In 2015, Laurent de la Clergerie launched the LDLC School, an establishment which offers three-year training dedicated to the impact of digital technology on the economy. The bac+3 level of this course is validated by the Ministry of Labor and registered with the RNCP title. On the program: you will find marketing and communication courses, technology courses, to familiarize yourself with algorithms, IoT, etc. You will also be entitled to courses dedicated to business life and general culture.
To join the LDLC School, you must complete an online application and pay the €50 application fee. It is then necessary to pass online tests that assess general aptitude, personality and situational judgment skills. You will then have to complete a motivational interview, before hoping to join the school that you can only join if you obtain the baccalaureate.
Among the opportunities highlighted by LDLC, we find professions such as brand manager, community manager, digital strategy manager, web referencing manager, 3D project managers, virtualization manager, etc.
If part of the tuition fees are covered by LDLC, the group nevertheless specifies that these amount to €1,996 per year, or €5,988 for the entire course of the LDLC School. If it is not possible to follow this work-study training, you will have to complete 40 weeks of internship throughout your course.
Multiworld, Sttanding… Other activities of the president of LDLC
Laurent de la Clergerie is not only president of LDLC. Indeed, the one who explains that he has always dreamed of being an entrepreneur, since kindergarten, has never stopped creating other companies in parallel with the IT giant. He first started in 2011, with jaiplusdecroquettes.com, a site created with his wife who has sole responsibility for it today. Although he specifies that this company dedicated to products for animals is only just beginning, it has nevertheless opened several stores in Lyon and Bordeaux.
Among Laurent de la Clergerie’s other projects, we find a squash restaurant concept, since transformed into a leisure space based around virtual reality. It was bought by the LDLC group which wishes to expand it with a “édeveloper team to become a real video game studio and offer (…) the possibility of coming and playing games developed by the studio and some games from other studios. » This project was renamed Multiworld and was redesigned with a friend, Christophe Carron.
Laurent de la Clergerie also invested in and then took over a boutique specializing in the world of interior decoration with his wife. Called Sttanding, this structure should be transformed by the couple to become a real chain.
The fortune of Laurent de la Clergerie
The fortune of Laurent de la Clergerie is intrinsically linked to the valuation of the LDLC group. So how much is it? According to Challengesthe family fortune amounts to 138 million euros, according to the latest figures from June 2021.
Today, Laurent de la Clergerie, his sister Caroline, his brother Olivier and Suzanne hold 40.07% of the LDLC group. As of January 17, 2022, the market capitalization of LDLC was 322 million euros. Their fortune is therefore 129 million euros, of course taking into account investments made in other companies.
Laurent de la Clergerie currently owns 19.2% of LDLC, or 1,216,746 million shares in the group. His fortune would therefore be around 61.8 million euros. Once again, it is also necessary to take into account the investments that the entrepreneur has made in other companies, to have a global vision of his fortune.
Laurent de la Clergerie aka Fabien in Patron Incognito on M6
Patron Incognito is a show in which the managers of large French companies pretend to be job seekers undergoing retraining to get closer to the teams and thus study the various dysfunctions encountered by employees.
In the show this Monday, January 17, Laurent de la Clergerie gets a makeover as Fabien to go incognito with his employees. He even went so far as to shave his head to make sure no one recognized him. He will complete his immersion in an LDLC store in Besançon and a group warehouse in Nantes.
