France Telecom’s supervisory board has approved the company’s plan to join a consortium of Claude Perdriel, the owner of magazine Nouvel Observateur, and Spain’s Prisa to make a bid for loss-making media company Le Monde, Reuters reports.
CEO Stephane…
France Telecom’s supervisory board has approved the company’s plan to join a consortium of Claude Perdriel, the owner of magazine Nouvel Observateur, and Spain’s Prisa to make a bid for loss-making media company Le Monde, Reuters reports.
CEO Stephane Richard reportedly said that the operator, which is mainly interested in online unit Le Monde Interactif, would be ready to invest E50m to E60m.
The media group is looking for E100m to stay afloat.
The other expected bidder is a consortium comprising Lazard banker Matthieu Pigasse, industrialist Pierre Berge and Xavier Niel, the founder of ISP Free. This consortium created political controversy after president Nicolas Sarkozy threatened Le Monde’s head, Eric Fottorino, with withdrawing public funding for the printing business if the consortium, close to the socialist party, were to buy the media group.
Final bids, due today, will be examined on 25 June. The supervisory board will vote three days later to select the winner, which will immediately have to deposit E10m to enter exclusive talks with the group.
Le Monde group consists of the daily newspaper and its website; magazines La vie, Telerama, Courrier International and the Monde Diplomatique, as well as a printing business.
