Is the digital revolution just a mirage? For Geoffrey Geuens the reply to the question brooks no ambiguity. In his new book Les vieilles élites de la nouvelle économie (The Old Elites of the New Economy) (1), the communication industries specialist dissects the power structures of the major European and American technology groups, as well as Belgian, French and American media companies. His judgement is unanswerable: contrary to what the advent of the new information technologies might have led us to believe, this much heralded change is for the most part mere marketing and political communication.

What could Rik De Nolf (the Roularta Media Group CEO), Philippe Vlerick (Vice President of VEV) and Thomas Leysen (President of the CORELIO group Board of Trustees, and trustee of the UCB and the Etex group), possibly have in common? At first glance, not much.

The first person cited, nicknamed ‘the avid Flemish reader’, has been managing the family business for over thirty years. Le Vif/L’Express, Knack, Trends, Canal Z, Q-Music…So many magazines, television channels and radio stations – national or Flemish – which have been active under his stewardship.

The second, whose fortune is estimated to be (around) 400 million Euros, is a well known name in high finance and holds (or has held) key positions in a number of business companies. President of BIC Carpet (floor coverings) and UCO Textiles, Vice-President of the KBC bank,  trustee at Alcopa (automobiles), Etex (building materials), etc.

As for the third figure, he is the descendant of the Leysen family, well known in the Belgian business environment, and which burst into the media world in the 1970s on the occasion of equity acquisitions in the Flemish daily newspaper De Standaard. Today the CORELIO group (formerly VUM Media) owns the Het Nieuwsblad and L’Avenir, the free circulation magazine Passe-Partout, the Nostalgie radio station etc. In addition to his various remits as President of the Board of Trustees, Thomas Leysen is also the Chairman of Umicore and was up until recently the Director of the Federation of Belgian Businesses (FEB).

In short, there is nothing to link them at first sight. What connection is there between the media universe and a trustee who has amassed a fortune in textiles? And are not Rik De Nolf and Thomas Leysen competitors in the press and multimedia sector?

There nevertheless exists a common thread tying together these three characters. But a common thread that you need to know how to unearth, thanks to a meticulous analysis of business networks. This is what has been done by Geoffrey Geuens, a lecturer at the University of Liège’s Communication Arts and Sciences Department, in his new book, Les vieilles élites de la nouvelle économie.

A book in which we learn that (amongst other things) Rik De Nolf is the cousin of the former  CD&V (Christian Democrat Party in Flanders) Minister of Justice (S. De Clerck), but that his group can also count on certain intermediaries within the Liberal Party, through Freddy Neyts, its former External Relations Director, who is also a former President of Radio Contact. The latter, President of the Open VLD political party’s ‘Bruxelles Ville’ section is the husband of the former minister Annemie Uyttebroeck; a Liberal who, in addition to her political activities, is an trustee for UCO Textiles. UCO Textiles, the same company run by no other than  Philippe Vlerick, himself an trustee (and one of the main shareholders) of the CORELIO group, managed by Thomas Leysen. We have come full circle.

(1) GEUENS Geoffrey, Les vieilles élites de la nouvelle économie, Paris, Puf, Coll. "La politique éclatée", 2011, 207 pages.