The stakeholders “have decided by mutual agreement to suspend their discussions on the sale of Marianne,” announced Daniel Kretinsky’s press group.
Thunderbolt to the magazine Marianne. After the threat of a strike brandished by the journalists of the editorial staff, CMI France and Pierre-Edouard Stérin “have mutually decided to suspend their discussions on the sale of Marianne”announced the press group of Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky this Friday morning.
Read alsoPress: employees of the weekly Marianne do not oppose the takeover by Stérin
“They will meet again on July 21 to decide definitively on the fate of these discussions”, specified CMI France. The magazine’s editorial team, led by Natacha Polony, voted for a 24-hour renewable strike on Thursday evening, two days before the first round of early legislative elections, to protest against a transfer to Pierre-Edouard Stérin, due to his possible links with the National Rally (RN) advanced in the press.
Less than a week before, however, on Friday June 21, the same editorial staff thought they had settled the question. The journalists had answered no to the question. “Should the editorial staff oppose the takeover by Pierre-Edouard Stérin, regardless of the guarantees of independence obtained?”, with 60.3% of the votes. But this is an article from our colleagues at Monde , published this week, which would have finally changed the situation. The article detailed the relations between the close friends of the founder of Smartbox and the RN campaign for the early legislative elections. The daily newspaper exposed in particular the role of financier François Durvye, number two to Pierre-Edouard Stérin within his investment fund Otium Capital, and who advises Marine Le Pen on her economic program.
Jean-Martial Lefranc still in ambush
The writing of Marianne thus asked the president of CMI France, Denis Olivennes, to “to seek new buyers capable of ensuring the editorial independence of Marianne and the economic sustainability of the title”The editorial team wishes to maintain the very distinct editorial line of this weekly created in 1997 by journalists Jean-François Kahn and Maurice Szafran: sovereignty, secularism, criticism of elites.
For his part, the businessman Jean-Martial Lefranc, in ambush through press communications for several weeks, despite the phase of exclusive negotiations with Pierre-Edouard Stérin, is continuing his seduction operation with Denis more than ever. Olivennes. This former boss of Fleurus presse and publisher of the magazine The Fantastic Screensupported on this file by the Vae Solis management consulting agency, had even submitted an offer to CMI a few days ago. In search of financing for his acquisition project, Jean-Martial Lefranc, whose political opinions are known to be rather left-wing, has teamed up with several personalities from the tech world, such as the founder of the unicorn Mirakl, Philippe Corrot. Met a few days ago, Jean-Martial Lefranc, who has worked at Publicis and is a great reader of the British press, explained to Figaro that he believed the title could regain “over the next few months 300,000 to 500,000 euros”.
Marianne, which recently reduced its pagination by half to get a makeover, lost 3 million euros last year, for a turnover of 12 million euros. With 129,000 copies sold in 2023, the magazine saw its circulation drop by 1.3% compared to 2022, according to ACPM data. It thus remains behind its competitors Point, The Obs et L’Express.
Following the suspension of negotiations between Pierre-Edouard Stérin, it remains to be seen whether other potential buyers will come forward to CMI in the coming days…
