The CMA CGM shipowner is gradually making a name for itself in the media world. The company, led by billionaire Rodolphe Saadé, will buy the economic newspaper The gallery, he announced this Friday in a press release. “The CMA CGM Group today submitted a promise to purchase with a view to acquiring 100% of the capital of the HIMA Group, owner of the newspaper ‘La Tribune'”, he indicated.
“The final completion of the transaction remains subject to consultation with the employee representative bodies and then to obtaining regulatory authorizations”, he specified. This acquisition strengthens the presence of the Marseille shipowner in the media sector, where it has set foot in recent months under the leadership of Rodolphe Saadé.
The group wants to be “a decisive player” in the media
CMA CGM, which recorded a record net profit of more than 23 billion euros in 2022, became the owner of the press group in October Provence at the end of a long soap opera. This group publishes daily newspapers Provence And Corsica Morning. He then invited himself to the capital of the audiovisual group M6, then, at the beginning of April, to that of the online video media Brut.
Sign of its ambitions in the sector, CMA CGM recruited in early March Laurent Guimier, former director of information for France Télévisions, to head its media branch, CMA CGM Media. “CMA CGM intends to be a decisive player in terms of innovation and transformation of the media sector”, assured the group in its press release. He insisted on “the complementarity” between his different media, which he believes is “at the heart” of his strategy in the sector.
An increasingly digital newspaper
“”La Tribune” is complementary with “La Provence” and “Corse Matin” (…) in particular for its expertise in digital transformation”, assured the group. Established in 1985, The gallery abandoned its printed daily formula in 2012. Since then, it has turned almost exclusively to digital.
In paper version, it went from weekly to monthly in 2020, and now claims three million unique monthly visitors to its site. The newspaper is 72% owned by the HIMA group, itself 20% owned by entrepreneur Jean-Christophe Tortora and 80% by Franck Julien, boss of the business services giant Atalian. The rest belongs to entrepreneur Laurent Alexandre (founder of Doctissimo).