THE future of the left-wing daily newspaper Liberation seems secure after its staff voted to accept a takeover, ending 23 years of financial control by its employees.
Of Liberation's nearly 400 staff, 77 per cent voted for the package offered by the Chargeurs group. The deal will give the group a 65 per cent share, while the staff holding will drop from over 45 to 20 per cent. The takeover will boost the capital of the newspaper by 70 million francs (£9.3 million).
The Chargeurs group, under its president, Mr Jerome Seydoux, has held about 10 per cent of Liberation for the last 13 years, which has reassured many of the staff about his intentions. Mr Serge July will remain Liberation's president and director of information.
Mr Seydoux, whose family has a history of supporting the left-wing press, also owns the French cinema company Pathe, the film production and distribution company Renn Productions, as well as a share in the BSkyB consortium.
Many of Liberation's recent Financial troubles came when it expanded into a new 80-page format two years ago. The bigger, magazine style edition, which led to the hiring of dozens of new staff, subsequently had to be scaled back down as it was too costly. The change led to a redundancy plan which will see 78 departures this year.
While many of Liberation's staff had been unhappy about a takeover which would undermine their historic control, most realised that the paper risked closure without new capital. In a country of 57 million, where relatively few people buy a national daily paper, Liberation sells around 200,000 copies.