Thinning in sight for Release. According to our information, confirming that of Capitalthe boss of the Czech media group Czech Media Invest (CMI) is preparing to return to the pot of the daily.
Its leaders have made no secret of their quest for new subsidies for several months. At the start of the summer, the co-manager of Release and president of the holding company Presse Indépendante SAS, Denis Olivennes, had even advanced an amount of fifteen million euros.
In deficit despite a positive financial dynamic (7.9 million euros in operating loss in 2021, against 12 million in 2020), the daily was supposed to find balance in 2023. The Covid-19 crisis as well as the increase in the price of paper contributed to the observation that this objective would not be achieved. Especially since Release will have to start repaying the loan guaranteed by the State (PGE) of nearly 4 million euros contracted at the start of the health crisis linked to Covid-19.
Since 2020, Release is no longer the property of Altice France, but of the Endowment Fund for an Independent Press (FDPI), created by Patrick Drahi himself. While he had undertaken, during this transfer, to accompany Release the time of its recovery, the owner of SFR (and therefore of Altice, which also owns BFM-TV, RMC, etc.) seems to no longer want to fill the holes. “He has already left 100 million there since 2014, he would not be against the fact that we find someone else”recognized a senior executive, in July, at the World.
Capitalistic and editorial independence
The placement of Release in a fund guarantees the newspaper its capital independence: it cannot accommodate a shareholder. To fly to the aid of the newspaper, the energy magnate therefore had only two options: either to do so in the form of an outright donation, or in the form of a loan. According to our information, it is this second option that was chosen. The sum of 20 million euros is mentioned. None of the protagonists in the case, however, wished to speak.
The boss of CMI (She, Marianne, Maverick…) will therefore not possess Release. However, journalists will continue to jealously guard the respect of their editorial independence. Just before the second round of the presidential election, the Society of Editors of Marianne was indignant at a “unprecedented attack on its independence” after the energy billionaire intervened “directly” to modify a “one” in order to accentuate its favorable character to Emmanuel Macron.
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