Rodolphe Saadé in Marseille, June 27, 2023. (POOL / LUDOVIC MARIN)
The boss of CMA CGM Rodolphe Saadé will reinvest 7 million euros in La Tribune, which he bought six months ago and developed with a Sunday format, we learned on Tuesday from the economic newspaper.
These funds should notably allow the hiring of 45 new employees, including 21 journalists, the same source said, confirming information from La Lettre.
The media subsidiary of the shipowner CMA CGM, WhyNot Media, is reorganizing, the group announced on Friday: Jean-Christophe Tortora becomes its director in place of Laurent Guimier – who remains within the group -, while retaining his position as director. president of La Tribune.
According to CMA CGM, WhyNot Media “continues its development and begins a second phase” with this new organization, “after a first stage of construction”.
The media branch of the powerful shipowner based in Marseille was renamed at the end of 2023, after first being called CMA CGM Media.
Over the past two years, CMA CGM and Rodolphe Saadé have shown great ambitions in the media sector.
In October 2022, the shipowner, which recorded a record net profit of more than 23 billion euros that year, had already become the owner of the La Provence group (regional daily newspapers La Provence and Corse Matin).
He then invited himself, at the end of 2022, to the capital of the audiovisual group M6, then, at the beginning of April 2023, to that of the online video media Brut, before taking control of La Tribune via the purchase of the Hima group from Mr. Tortora .
La Tribune Dimanche, the paper and general version of the online economic daily, was launched in October, with a first issue which sold 41,000 copies, the following three oscillating between 30,000 and 40,000.
At the end of November, the editorial staff of La Provence went on strike to protest against the elimination of 30 journalist positions.
A few weeks before, Mr. Guimier had declared to Le Figaro that CMA CGM could not “fully” guarantee the maintenance of employment promised during the takeover.
WhyNot Media claims a turnover of 78 million euros and 900 employees.