Tuesday, July 3, 2012

The fate of group Hersant

Listen to the stunning silence of the minister of Industry, Arnaud Montebourg. Hundreds of jobs are going to disappear at GHM and Presstalis but nobody moves apart from Laurent Fabius who tries to convince Pierre Bergé to invest 3 millions euros to save the dying Paris Normandie and its 350 jobs.
Still, it seems that Group Rossel and its dynamic boss Bernard Marchant are ready to take back the ailing newspapers from East and South but on their own conditions. The gamble of the union Filpac CGT was in fact a kind of suicide. Why should they agree to a not very good deal while their refusal provides an even less attractive solution? Why should they refuse a loss of 350 jobs while the court will allow the bankrupt press group to suppress 5 or 600 jobs.? I doubt the Union will recover from such a tremendous failure.

The other losers will be the 17 banks. They loaned 215 millions euros. They will recover only a tiny part of it. Another good reason for the financial system to keep away from any press business. Endebted groups like Sud Ouest should be very careful.

People say that Vincent Bolloré is still readay to invest in the media through Vivendi. The man is lucky. Nobody will stop him because nobody cares. The job is cut for him.