CMA CGM boss Rodolphe Saadé will reinvest 7 million euros in La Tribune, which he bought six months ago and developed with a Sunday formula, we learned this Tuesday from the economic newspaper. These funds should allow the hiring of 45 new employees, including 21 journalists, the same source said, confirming a report by La Lettre. CMA CGM's media subsidiary, WhyNot Media, is reorganising, the group announced on Friday: Jean-Christophe Tortora will become its director in place of Laurent Guimier - who will remain with the group - while retaining his position as chairman of La Tribune. According to CMA CGM, WhyNot Media is "continuing its development and initiating a second phase" with this new organization, "after a first stage of construction".
The media arm of the powerful Marseille-based shipowner was renamed at the end of 2023, after initially 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 that year, had already become the owner of the La Provence group (regional dailies La Provence and Corse Matin).
Read also"We're not looking for voters but for readers": Bruno Jeudy unveils the first issue of La Tribune Dimanche
Edition sold at 41,000 copies
At the end of 2022, he acquired a stake in the M6 audiovisual group, then, in early April 2023, in the online video media Brut, before taking control of La Tribune via the purchase of Jean-Christophe Tortora's Hima group. La Tribune Dimanche, the print and generalist version of the online business daily, was launched in October, with a first issue that sold 41,000 copies, with the next 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 journalists' jobs. A few weeks earlier, Laurent Guimier had told Le Figaro that CMA CGM could not "entirely" guarantee the maintenance of the jobs promised during the takeover. WhyNot Media boasts a turnover of €78 million and 900 employees.