France Telecom's board of directors has approved a joint bid for French daily Le Monde and its website, of some 60 million euro (US$74 million) for a majority stake in the newspaper group. France Telecom has formed a consortium with French Groupe SFA PAR, which controls titles including Le Nouvel Observateur, and Spanish media group Promotora de Informaciones SA, or Prisa, to launch the bid.
Significance: France Telecom's management has previously said that it would be interested in becoming a technical partner for Le Monde's digital business, but any investment would be "limited". However, the group has now agreed to a full purchase of the newspaper group. Le Monde's management has recently made the decision to sell a majority stake in the company, in order to repay debts of some 100 million euro. The deadline for final bids is the start of next week, and Le Monde's supervisory board will meet June 28 to make a decision.
