A warning shot within the editorial staff of Les
Échos
.
After ten years of good and loyal service, the editorial director of the economic daily, Nicolas Barré, is preparing to leave his post.
Its shareholder, the LVMH group led by Bernard Arnault, should formalize his departure and announce his successor in the coming days.
This Tuesday,
La Lettre A
announced that Nicolas Barré "
was forced to give up his place
under pressure from its shareholder.
Other sources suggest that Nicolas Barré could invest in another mission, recalling that he had notably already worked as a foreign correspondent for the title.
If the newspaper does not wish to comment or deny this movement at the head of the editorial staff, a succession process is well underway, according to information from Le
Figaro
.
The name of François Vidal, close collaborator of Nicolas Barré and current deputy director of the editorial staff, is put forward to succeed him.
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LIVE - Pension reform: Emmanuel Macron on TF1 and France 2 Wednesday at 1 p.m.
The reasons for his departure remain unclear in the eyes of the employees, who say they are surprised by the news, according to our information.
The financial indicators are indeed looking good for Les Échos.
At the end of 2021, the title returned to balance for the first time since 2008, revealed the CEO of the Les Échos-le Parisien group Pierre Louette to
Figaro
.
At that time, the daily's turnover amounted to 90 million euros.
At the end of 2022, the Les Echos-Le Parisien group as a whole recorded a turnover of 430 million euros, including a hundred million for the daily newspaper which has some 200 journalists.
The economic newspaper
Les Échos
alone had 102,000 subscribers, which represented three-quarters of its paid circulation in France (at 138,421 copies, up 1.3% over one year).
Also a columnist for Europe 1, Nicolas Barré, 57, who has been at Les
Échos
for fifteen years, notably worked in the editorial staff of Le
Figaro in 2006,
occupying the position of deputy editorial director.
In 2008, he returned to Les
Échos
as deputy editorial director.
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Editorial vote
This departure comes just a few weeks after Henri Gibier was replaced as editor of Les
Échos week-end
by Jean-Francis Pécresse.
According to the statutes of the economic newspaper, the editorial staff of Les
Echos
will be called upon to vote on whether or not to approve the appointment of Nicolas Barré's successor.
