LONDON: Journalists at Les Echos, a French financial daily, walked off the job Tuesday, stopping publication of Wednesday editions, as Pearson, its British owner, confirmed that it was considering a sale of the newspaper.
Pearson declined to name the interested party or parties, but a union representative at Les Echos, Katty Cohen, said journalists assumed that the potential buyer was Bernard Arnault, chief executive of the luxury goods conglomerate LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton. Le Monde reported Tuesday that Arnault had offered €250 million, or $330 million, for Les Echos.
Journalists at Les Echos contend that editorial integrity could be threatened by a sale to Arnault, who already owns La Tribune, a competing financial daily, while LVMH owns luxury brands like Louis Vuitton, Givenchy and Donna Karan.
Journalistic independence has come under a spotlight in France because of close relationships that the newly elected president, Nicolas Sarkozy, has cultivated with media barons like Arnaud Lagardère, the owner of Paris Match and co-chairman of European Aeronautic Defense & Space.
The announcement by Pearson, publisher of The Financial Times, that it was "considering strategic options for Groupe Les Echos," came as speculation mounts over its possible interest in Dow Jones, owner of The Wall Street Journal. One person close to Pearson, who insisted on anonymity, said the decision to consider a sale of Les Echos had predated any interest in Dow Jones, which Pearson has not confirmed.Pearson said its review of the options at Les Echos would "establish whether a potential sale of Groupe Les Echos may create value for Pearson's shareholders and enable Les Echos' editorial independence to continue and its people to prosper under a new owner."
LVMH did not return calls, and Arnault could not be reached.
Le Monde reported that a French Internet company, which it did not name, had also expressed an interest in Les Echos.
Cohen described the journalists' action Tuesday, at a general assembly of employees, as a "vote for nonpublication" of the Wednesday paper, rather than a strike. She said the paper's Web site would also be "suspended" until Wednesday afternoon. In addition to fears over editorial independence, the employees say they worry about job losses, should Arnault gain control.
The issue of editorial independence has also been central to the struggle over the future of Dow Jones, which has received a $5 billion offer from News Corp. Some members of the Bancroft family, Dow Jones's controlling shareholders, say a takeover by News Corp. would compromise the integrity of The Wall Street Journal.
People close to Pearson said the company was exploring a bid for Dow Jones in partnership with General Electric, which controls the NBC Universal media group, though they said that the talks were "really preliminary and exploratory."
For Pearson, the decision to consider a sale of Les Echos continues a recent effort to reduce the company's exposure to the newspaper business and focus more on businesses like educational publishing. About two years ago, Pearson sold a controlling stake in Recoletos, the Spanish publisher of a business daily, Expansión.
Unlike many French newspaper publishers, Groupe Les Echos makes money, generating €10 million of operating profit for Pearson on sales of €126 million in 2006.
