Headlines To Regret: Sarkozy Is In For A Monde Of Trouble!
French president Nicolas Sarkozy is in something of a spat with Le Monde, the revered but struggling French newspaper that is currently up for sale.
Sarkozy inserted himself in the paper’s sales efforts by calling a meeting with its publisher, Eric Fottorino, and letting Fottorino know that he was opposed to a bid from three businessmen (Matthieu Pigasse, head of Lazard investment bank’s French operations; Pierre Bergé, co-founder of the Yves Saint Laurent; and Xavier Niel, a telecommunications entrepreneur) with ties to the country’s Socialist Party. Niel formerly worked for the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who is a potential candidate for the 2012 presidential election.
The meeting did not sit well with the Society of Readers of Le Monde, who happen to own a controlling stake in the paper along with its employees. In a statement, the group wrote that “In any great democracy, such an intervention would be unacceptable.”
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