Mon Dieu! Le Huffington Post Launches Today

Image via WikipediaA partnership involving Le Monde, Les Nouvelles Editions Independantes and The Huffington Post Media Group today launched Le Huffington Post, which the news aggregator promises "will be rooted in French culture and will reflect France's own unique personality, rich culture and diversity of voices."

Anne Sinclair, who has written a blog, annesinclair.fr., will serve as editorial director of Le Huffington Post. Among bloggers debuting on the site today are Guy Carrcassonne, a Univ. of Paris professor, and Julien Dray, a member of the country's Parliament.

France sends us brie and Chateauneuf de Pape; we send them the parsimonius Huffington Post and Jerry Lewis. Hardly seems fair, and may explain why they don't like us.

UPDATE: Control of Le Monde Goes to Banker, Fashion & Porn Moguls

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The supervisory board of the 66-year-old French newspaper,  Le Monde, has turned to a troika of billionaires to rescue the daily, which is drowning in debt.

A consortium led by a subsidiary of France Telecom (see "TUOL" post 6/22/10) withdrew its bid Monday, leaving the field wide open for Matthieu Pigasse, 41; Xavier Niel, 43; and 80-year-old Pierre Berge to gain control of Le Monde, which employs about 280 journalists and boasts a circulation around 300,000.  Pigasse is a prominent figure with the investment bank, Lazard, Berge, the co-founder of fashion giant Yves-Saint-Laurent, and the colorful Niel founded Free, France's largest non-state owned telecommunications company, after initially amassing a fortune running sex chat services. Ooh, la la.

The winning bidders are not favorites of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, because of what he perceives to be their left-leaning political sentiments. 

Consortium to Acquire Majority Stake in Le Monde?

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According to a Reuters story, France's newspaper of record, Le Monde, has enlisted financial advisors to assist it in selling a majority ownership share to stanch losses from declining ad revenues and shrinking circulation.

France's Telecom is joining forces with Spain's Prisa (Promotora de Informaciones SA) and Nouvel Observateur weekly magazine owner Claude Perdriel to submit a bid for a majority stake in the daily newspaper. Reportedly, the consortium has its eye on a 34 percent ownership bid for the paper's online version, Le Monde Interactif.

Another triumverate consisting of Pierre Berge, an Yves St. Laurent Group partner; telecommunications mogul Xavier Niel and Matthieu Nagasse, a Lazard banker, reportedly has submitted a pre-offer to Le Monde. The Reuters account suggests the purchase price could reach 100 million euros ($122.8 million).

The French state has a 28 percent ownership interest in France Telecom.