Restructuring events
European Restructuring Monitor (ERM)
The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
The regional media company La Dépêche du Midi (800 employees turnover of €145 million) has taken over group Journaux du Midi (920 employees, turnover of €120 million) with the loss of 300 jobs. Both companies are publishers of regional and local newspapers. This acquisition will create the fourth French largest regional media group. The CEO of La Dépêche du Midi has announced about 150 job cuts in each group. The aim is to save costs to increase investments. “Currently the two groups are not able to invest”, stressed the CEO.
In 2007, La Dépêche du Midi tried to buy Journaux du Midi but the latter was finally sold by Le Monde group to the group Sud-Ouest for €90 million. With the current acquisition, La Dépêche will only pay €15 million. The newspaper will cover the whole Languedoc-Roussillon-Midi-Pyrénées region.
In 2011, Journaux du Midi announced it would cut 158 jobs with the aim of downsizing its workforce from 1,070 to around 900.
Eurofound (2015), La Dépêche - Journaux du Midi, Merger/Acquisition in France, factsheet number 83900, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/83900.