Fire Alarm Companies

Aerospace and press baron Arnaud Lagardère's controversial video and pictures with girlfriend Jade Foret become online hit

It was the first time the French business world, normally highly discreet about its private life, had seen a chief executive so publicly cavorting. Some called it "economic suicide" for Lagardère, who heads the eponymous Lagardère media group, which publishes Elle and Paris Match, and has a stake in the European aerospace and defence group EADS.

Lagardère's stint in the top chair at EADS is important for Sarkozy. The men's friendship has already come under question when Lagardère's press group was seen to punish journalists who sought to run uncomfortable stories about Sarkozy, such as the scoop that his then wife Cecilia had not voted in the second round of the presidential election in 2007. Some even speculated that Lagardère's public display of love for a supermodel was styled on Sarkozy's relationship with Carla Bruni. The president is reported to be perplexed by Lagardère's public display of affection.