Euronews cuts its costs to redeploy in Europe


The head office in Lyon has been put up for sale. Martin Bertrand / Hans Lucas via Reuters Connect

The channel, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, plans to cut nearly 200 jobs in Lyon and create 120 journalist jobs at the same time, mainly in Brussels.

At the dawn of its 30th anniversary, Euronews wants to redeploy on the Old Continent. Thursday morning, the management presented to the employees, during a social and economic committee, the new strategic orientations of the group until 2025, aiming to refocus the group on European information and to stem its heavy losses.

Launched in 1993 by some twenty European audiovisual groups and initially thought of as an alternative to the American CNN, Euronews, broadcast in 160 countries, now reaches more than 400 million homes worldwide. But she is in serious financial trouble. The chain has accumulated more than 180 million losses since its inception, including 150 million, just over the last ten years.

To rectify the situation, the management announced the plan to abolish in Lyon, where the company’s head office is located, 198 jobs, including 123 in the editorial staff. This represents nearly half of the group’s workforce, which totaled 478 employees at the end of January. At the same time, Euronews intends to create 120 journalist posts in order to closely follow the news of the institutions of the Union as well as that of the main European countries. In detail, the chain will open 70 positions in Brussels, which will be added to the fifteen already existing there. And 50 others scattered in six major capitals of the Old Continent, such as Rome or Madrid. At the end of this plan, the number of Euronews journalists should remain almost unchanged.

In order to save money, Euronews will also sell its head office, a 10,000m² building emblematic of the Confluence district in Lyon, designed by architects Jakob + MacFarlane.

Return to equilibrium expected in 2025

The editorial shift of the channel and the Euronews platform comes a few months after the arrival in the capital of a new shareholder, the Portuguese fund Alpac Capital. The latter had taken over 88% of the shares of the group held by the Egyptian tycoon Naguis Sawiris. And appointed Guillaume Dubois, former CEO of BFMTV and director of the LCI antenna, as CEO of Euronews.

This repositioning could allow the group to keep the funding granted by the European Commission for the production of programs, which amounts to approximately 18 million euros in 2023. The new editorial offer, which should make it possible to increase the revenues of Euronews, coupled with cost control, gives hope of a return to equilibrium in 2025.

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