Only one buyer finally positioned himself to take over the magazines XXI And 6 months, placed in receivership since August 8. Indigo Publications, which owns investigative media The letter a, Glitz. Paris, AfricaIntelligence, or IntelligenceOnline, has, according to our information, filed with the Paris Commercial Court a takeover offer for the two quarterly publications.
Indigo therefore no longer has any potential competitors in this rescue operation. In July, after the publication of an article by Release recounting the financial difficulties causing tensions with dozens of unpaid journalists, photographers and illustrators, the leaders of the news site Days had spoken with the management of XXI And 6 months. In the end, they didn’t take the plunge. “The four-week deadline for analyzing the file was very tight and was not enough for us to propose a recovery plan”justifies Augustin Naepels, Managing Director of Days. Alexandre Almajeanu, general manager of the weekly The New Economistalso peeled the file before giving up.
Indigo Publications has, from the first difficulties of the journals, leaned on the file XXI. The Botbol family press group, whose publications are currently 100% digital, seems logically on the right track to be chosen by the Paris Commercial Court. The latter must still examine the file, set a next hearing at the end of September, then announce its decision at the beginning of October, but the hypothesis of the judicial liquidation of the journals XXI And 6 months seems to move away.
A digital offer expected for January 2024
Indigo’s intentions are beginning to take shape: the long formats will remain, but the editorial line could slightly evolve towards more investigations and fewer reports from the first issue of the next formula expected for February 2024. Through this project, the potential new owners want to create synergies with the rest of the group without saying more for the moment. “My project is for Indigo to bring its expertise in terms of investigation and feathers, while taking advantage of the network of illustrators and photographers formed by XXI », explain to World Quentin Botbol, CEO of Indigo Publications.
So that XXI break even within two to three years, Quentin Botbol considers that the priority lies in the development of a digital offer from January 2024. “We want to launch a purely digital subscription with exclusive web content. It is necessary if we want to seduce a new readership.insists Mr. Botbol, promising the next integration of the fifteen years of archives of the journal XXI. “Today, there is only a showcase site to buy numbers or subscribe”laments the 30-year-old.
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