2023-10-24 22:33:04
Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky in Prague, October 17, 2023. DAVID W CERNY / REUTERS
A year following a first loan, here is already the second for Release. Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky will lend between 12 and 14 million euros daily, it has been learned The world by several sources close to the case, confirming information from The letter published earlier this evening.
The signature of this new financing must be communicated to employees, Wednesday October 25, during a Social and Economic Council (CSE). The official announcement to the editorial office had not yet taken place on Tuesday evening, even though rumors had been swirling internally in recent weeks.
In September 2022, the businessman had lent 14 million euros to Release until 2026 in order to guarantee its financing and develop its editorial staff. The second loan must be repaid by 2027, although they might be rescheduled if necessary. The possibility of other loans to finance investments is not excluded following 2024. Like last year, it is the holding company ReleaseIndependent Press SAS, which will borrow the sum from International Media Invest (IMI), the subsidiary of the Czech media group Czech Media Invest (CMI).
Read also (2022): Article reserved for our subscribers Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky lends 14 million euros to “Libération”
Driven by its increasing digital distribution (+ 8.76% in the first half of 2023 compared to the same period in 2022), the title has just celebrated its fifty years with paid distribution in France up + 4.77%, still over the first six months of 2023. Although it hoped to reach balance in 2026, this objective was finally postponed to 2028, due to the surge in paper and energy prices, the decline in , as well as as investments in editorial and technical developments. In 2021, the daily’s losses amounted to 7.9 million euros, following 12 million in 2020.
A seat on the board of directors of the fund that manages the newspaper
Little known in France until 2018, Daniel Kretinsky burst into France by becoming owner of the weekly Marianne. The same year, he became an indirect shareholder of Monde, by purchasing 49% of the company Le Nouveau Monde, from Matthieu Pigasse, itself the owner of 26.6% of the company Le Monde libre. At the end of September 2023, NJJ Presse, the personal holding company of billionaire Xavier Niel, announced that it had taken over the shares held by Mr. Kretinsky in the capital of the Le Monde Group. The sum would amount to 69 million euros.
CMI France, which achieved 222 million euros in turnover in 2022, does not communicate its net profit, but says it is profitable. The press group today brings together several women’s titles, including Elle et Version Feminathe weekly 7 Days TV and celebrity magazines France Sunday, Paris here et Public. The latter might soon be resold to the Heroes Media group, CMI France having been in exclusive negotiations since the start of the school year.
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