An unexpected decision on the side of French daily newspapers. The newspaper Liberation leaves the fold of the Altice group to become a non-profit company. Altice France will create "an endowment fund for an independent press". The latter will acquire, through a subsidiary, Presse Indépendante SAS, the newspaper, its advertising management and its technology development company. The announcement was made Monday to employees of the daily. Liberation is thus experimenting with a model already implemented by Mediapart or Ouest-France, which has belonged for 30 years to a non-profit association. The press title should appeal to patrons to finance its development.
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Debt erased, an abundant fund
A change that Laurent Joffrin, managing editor, welcomes with caution, especially when he is asked about its meaning. "This is a question that must be asked to Patrick Drahi. He must have felt that after having presided over a recovery rather than selling the newspaper or keeping it in the group, it would be good to do that, in principle And then for its image too, I imagine, to make sure that the newspaper acquires a sustainability and an independence which is consecrated by this legal change ", he explains to the microphone of Europe 1.
"We are on a recovery path, not easy. And this recovery will be financed by the foundation and therefore the Altice group, which is Patrick Drahi's group, first undertook to erase all the debts of the newspaper, at moment of translation, and then to bring enough funds to guarantee both the daily life, and the development of the newspaper. "
Two close associates of Patrick Drahi on the board of directors
Patrick Drahi through the Altice group, had saved the press title, employing 200 employees, from bankruptcy in March 2014. He thus became the main shareholder. And this transfer does not mark the disinterest of the telecoms tycoon, also owner of BFM-TV, RMC and SFR.
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"This foundation will be managed by a board of directors made up of myself, Arthur Dreyfus the general manager of Altice Média, close collaborator of Patrick Drahi, and by Laurent Halimi who is also one of the directors of Altice. through his two close collaborators, Patrick Drahi remains interested in the future of the newspaper. It will simply be in an independent legal framework, and not as a subsidiary. "
Employee reserves
At the end of the year, Liberation will leave the Altice Campus where it was installed at the end of 2017. A new change for employees who remain worried. The Society of Journalists and Staff issued a press release yesterday. If she first says that she welcomes the creation of this endowment fund, she then has several reservations.
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The first is that this announcement was made unexpectedly and without consultation. The press release then indicates that the presentation does not reassure the teams. Liberation employees ask for legal, financial and social guarantees, but also to be fully involved in the establishment and governance of this foundation.