“Natacha Polony is a person that Daniel Kretinsky and I greatly appreciate, and for whom we have friendship,” said Denis Olivennes, president of the CMI France press group, on the set of “Esprit d” on Tuesday morning. ‘business’, the economic program on the Le Figaro TV channel. The right-hand man in France of the Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, owner of Casino, CMI France (Marianne, Franc Tireur, Elle…) and the Editis publishing group, reacted to a potential upcoming sale of the weekly Marianne, mentioned Monday by the media La Lettre.
“Natacha Polony, Marianne’s excellent boss, whom Daniel Kretinsky appointed a few years ago, managed to put Marianne back on track by being very rigorous and intelligent about her positioning in the press landscape,” Denis Olivennes explains to Le Figaro. . “She did this by radicalizing, in the etymological sense of the term, her positioning… It must be said that the closer Natacha Polony gets to her readership, the more she moves away from Daniel Kretinsky intellectually.” It evokes the pro-European, liberal and pro-business DNA of the shareholder.
“Daniel Kretinsky’s doctrine in matters of the press is non-intervention. He refuses to intervene on the line of the newspapers he owns,” insists Denis Olivennes. “So we are going to discuss with Natacha Polony how to guarantee her future, her independence, the longevity and sustainability of Marianne.” A way of suggesting that the shareholder does not agree with the editorial line of the title. “It’s a question that we will resolve with her,” adds the leader.
As Le Figaro revealed a few months ago, the weekly, directed by Natacha Polony since 2018, recently chose to reinvent itself by halving its pagination (from 88 pages to 52 pages) and reducing its pagination by one euro. selling price per number. “We went from 20,000 sales on newsstands to 28,000 with the new formula,” reveals Denis Olivennes. The president of CMI mentions a turnover of around 12 million euros for Marianne, with losses of 3 million. Marianne, who also has 55,000 paper subscribers, hopes to attract working people aged 30 to 40.
A general meeting was held early Tuesday afternoon in the offices of the weekly, in the 5th arrondissement of Paris. Natacha Polony and Frederick Cassegrain, publishing director, tried to reassure the editorial staff of the weekly, which has 55 press cards. “Regarding the sale, we were told that CMI has neither denied nor confirmed, which suggests that the sale is open,” says one of the journalists present during the AGM. Natacha Polony would also have been “surprised at such timing”, citing the fact that CMI had financed the recent overhaul of the weekly, as well as its expensive communication campaign.
“From now on, the overall feeling is apprehension about the situation,” explains the journalist. “The editorial team is very attached to the identity and singularity of Marianne and above all hopes that it is preserved… Whether with the current shareholder or another, but above all with financial means,” explains for its part a other editor. Overall, the editorial team rejects the idea that Marianne’s editorial line has hardened over the months, particularly in the face of global geopolitical tensions. “We do not recognize ourselves at all in the description of a radicalized sovereignist newspaper,” concludes the journalist.
