The Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky offers himself a new press title.
This Tuesday, October 6, its media group Czech Media Invest (CMI), which publishes
Marianne, Franc-tireur
,
Elle
or
Télé 7 jours
, announces the acquisition of the media
Usbek & Rica
.
"We are very happy to expand the CMI France family with Usbek & Rica, whose activities complement each other in a virtuous way in terms of prospective, editorial and event know-how"
, declared in a press release Valérie Salomon, president of the management board of CMI France. .
This takeover comes in a context where the media was facing financial difficulties.
Usbek & Rica had also had to make a few layoffs in recent months.
“We are very happy to join the CMI group which has a real entrepreneurial culture.
We will be able to pursue Usbek & Rica's mission with strength.
And we will also be able to contribute to the group's innovative diversification projects, in order to promote the subjects that really matter”,
says Jérôme Ruskin, founder of
“Usbek & Rica”
.
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Launched ten years ago in France, "
the media that explores the future
" wanted to democratize the major challenges of the future, such as climate change or technological upheavals.
"Usbek & Rica"
today consists of a quarterly magazine (available by subscription and in bookstores), a website, a creative studio and a lab, to create new formats and innovative devices.
For his part, Daniel Kretinsky continues to advance his pawns in France by multiplying investments in the media.
In addition to CMI, the Czech energy magnate also owns 51% of the economic chain BSmart.
At the end of September, he bailed out the daily "Liberation"
to the tune of 15 million euros
, without becoming a shareholder, since the daily is placed in an endowment fund for an independent press (which does not allow the arrival of a new shareholder).
Daniel Kretinsky was also a candidate for the takeover of M6, but the television channel finally preferred to remain in the bosom of its shareholder Bertelsmann for five additional years.