Plenel's decision comes as Le Monde seeks to shed 100 of its 750 staff through voluntary redundancies, and is looking for Euro 50 million of investment to bolster its Euro 630 million turnover.
Though Le Monde boasts daily sales of 380,000, it faces stiff competition from the right-wing paper Le Figaro, which industry insiders expect to overtake the left-leaning Le Monde in the coming months. French daily newspapers have lost circulation and revenue in recent years, with readers switching to a buoyant weekly news magazine sector.
