The CMI France group, owner of publications such as Elle, Marianne, and Franc-Tireur, is preparing for a major restructuring. On Wednesday, CEO Valérie Salomon announced to employees a redundancy plan involving the elimination of up to 87 positions. The advertising sales house, CMI Media, could also be affected, with 45 jobs at risk. This internal upheaval comes as the staff had already denounced the group's management in September through a vote of no confidence.
This restructuring is taking place within a press market in crisis.
According to management, this job protection plan will initially take the form of a voluntary redundancy program, with negotiations beginning as early as next week. They justify this decision by citing a "severely deteriorated" economic situation: falling sales, a collapse in advertising investment, rising costs… all structural trends that are weakening the sector in the long term and forcing CMI France to downsize. The group had already refocused its business in recent months by selling Ici Paris, France Dimanche, and Télé 7 Jours, while launching the TNT channel T18 in the hope of diversifying its revenue streams.
For a company that still boasts 185 million copies sold annually, this restructuring plan marks a turning point. CMI France claims to want to "secure the future" of its brands, but the announcement of these job cuts casts doubt on the group's ability to stabilize its business model. In a context where the entire press sector is struggling to survive, this restructuring could well be just the first step towards an even more profound overhaul.
