The family-owned business that owns the Tour de France saws its revenues surge, to over half a billion Euro annually, even before the race - and pro cycling in general - benefits from the impact of getting the Netflix treatment.
Amid the significantly increasing revenues, Groupe Amaury - the parent company of Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) which owns the Tour de France - insisted it was not for sale.
And that clear message comes as the Netflix, Tour de France Unchained, series and Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, are yet to be fully factored into the group's activities in terms of the latest revenue numbers it has shared.
Last year, before the Netflix series was released, revenue jumped by 17 per cent to €550 million. And while Groupe Amaury would not disclose how much of that revenue was accounted for by ASO - which owns the Tour and most of the other major bike races in pro cycling - that figure was 41 per cent in 2021.
Advertisement
Founded in 1944 by Emilien Amaury, Groupe Amaury was later inherited by his son Philippe. It remains a family company and is still controlled by Philippe’s widow, Marie-Odile Amaury. It has sought to move with changing times in recent years, with its first official video game and partnerships with Strava.
Related News
Those moves - and the sheer excitement and drama of recent editions of the Tour - saw TV audiences surge last year. A total of 41.5 million viewers tuned in to watch the race last year on French public service broadcaster, France Télévisions, the highest number since 2011. And with fortunes very much on the up, it is perhaps no surprise the family firm is not on the market.
“The Group is an independent, family-owned company. We intend to remain independent in order to develop our activities with a long-term vision,” an ASO spokesperson told Bloomberg of the owners having no plans to sell.
ASO is the company that owns the Tour de France, Critérium du Dauphiné, Eschborn–Frankfurt, La Flèche Wallonne, Liège–Bastogne–Liège, Paris–Nice, Paris–Roubaix, Volta a Catalunya, Vuelta a España (with Unipublic), Arctic Race of Norway, Paris–Tours, Tour of Oman, Deutschland Tour, Tour of Saudi Arabia, Tour de l'Avenir, Shanghai Criterium and Saitama Critérium.
It also owns a much smaller number of events in other sports - golf, motorsports, sailing and athletics - including the Paris Marathon and Dakar Rally. However, its cycling interest dwarf the other sports events in its portfolio.
As well as ASO, Groupe Amaury also owns other businesses including L'Équipe, France Football and Vélo Magazine as well as Amaury Lab - a business incubator - and Pressesports, a photo agency specializing in sports photography.
