“I remember February 28 very well. [2024]. In the afternoon, the editorial team was called to an extraordinary meeting. We said to ourselves: “It must be something serious.” At no time did it occur to us that we might be informed of our acquisition by LVMH. » Seven months later, Pierre (his name has been changed at his request) does not forget the relief he felt that day. Changing ownership meant above all leaving the Vivendi fold, to which the title belonged (with The Sunday newspaperEurope 1, Europe 2) since Vincent Bolloré became the largest shareholder of the Lagardère group in 2020, before purchasing it.
Participate in the transformation of Paris Partya 75-year-old popular current affairs and celebrity magazine, in an organ at the service of the Catholic and ultra-conservative ideology of the Breton industrialist, seemed to him more and more insurmountable every day. Tuesday 1Ahem October, the magazine became a “Home in its own right” of the LVMH group, writes Bernard Arnault in a press release. Or a company independent of the other press titles it owns, and a brand of the luxury group like Berluti or Dom Pérignon. Jean-Jacques Guiony, the group’s chief financial officer, is its president.
After seeing ten journalists activate the transfer clause from 2022 (the figure of around thirty departures, more or less voluntary, in the last four years remains unverifiable), the editorial staff of around eighty people should, according to our information, be expanded quickly, thanks to new hires and the use of prestigious writers. Three people from the former team are confirmed in their positions. The current general editorial director, Jérôme Béglé, also becomes editorial director and should keep Stéphane Albouy, deputy editor, at his side. Pierre-Emmanuel Ferrand, head of marketing and digital, also retains his title of CEO.
With Philippe de Villiers on the cover, the last issue of the Bolloré era, published at a time when the 120 million euros agreed upon by the buyer were transferred to the seller, seems the ultimate provocation. Until the end, the anxiety of being ashamed of the newspaper again did not abandon a good number of journalists. “There are only ten days left”We said to ourselves internally, when the Thursday, September 19, edition had the nuns of the Blanc monastery, in Indre, on the cover.
Since the red carpet was rolled out for the ultra-conservative Cardinal Robert Sarah, in July 2022 – which caused the loss of his position of former editor-in-chief Bruno Jeudy, bearer of the unanimous protest of the editorial office –, the frequency of appearances in first line The pages dedicated to the Catholic religion saddened the teams. The profile of the authors selected to write these articles (the editor of the Catholic extreme right Nicolas Diat, the presenter of “En quest d’esprit”, on CNews, Aymeric Pourbaix) and the very relative journalistic quality of certain texts (the story of the manger, told in the winter of 2023 by the traditionalist Catholic essayist Anne Bernet, was more an exposition than a newspaper article) added to the consternation.
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