Are things improving for the most prestigious French daily? It seems that there is some progress and the worse is not a sure thing anymore. Louis Dreyfus, the CEO is close to winning the battle of the printing. The over staffed printing unit is going to be reduced from 220 to 70 employees as only one press will keep working. The regional newspapers agree to print and deliver the copy for out of Paris readers. This way,le Monde will save several millions of euros every year and part of the Ivry print factory can be sold to developers. After four days of strike, it seems that the two printers unions are close to an agreement. A new printing unit set up by Riccobono will be devoted to the magazines of the group and possibly free sheets.
A solution could also be found for the Internet branch which is partially owned by Lagardere. In that case, Le Monde would be in full charge of its most promising venture like all the other newspapers.
Still questions remain on the weekly magazine, delivered on Friday in Paris. It is costly and its content is uneven, to say the least. For the moment, the advertisers seem interested. However, they could flee by next January and the End of the week issue doesn't sell all that well. An assessment will have to takeplace next year.
