Bordeaux (AFP) – Towards the formation of a new giant in the French regional press? The Belgian Rossel, owner of Voix du Nord, has entered into “exclusive negotiations” to buy the parent company of the regional daily Sud Ouest by “the end of the year”.

Published on: 03/09/2026 - 18:01

The possible takeover of this group, hegemonic in Bordeaux and on the south-west coast, by the subsidiary Rossel France, for around a hundred million euros according to a source close to the matter, would give rise to an entity with "cumulative turnover of more than 400 million euros", the two parties announced on Thursday in a joint press release.

It would form number three in the regional press sector in France behind SIPA-Ouest-France, 525 million euros in turnover in 2025, and EBRA (Le Progrès, Le Dauphiné, les DNA...) with 479 million euros.

For the unions, informed on Thursday before the holding of an extraordinary CSE on Monday, the probable transfer "is not a surprise".

Advantage over Bolloré

According to an elected official from the SNJ, the only journalists' union in the group, "rumours of takeovers have been increasing in recent times. There was talk of Bolloré (owner of Canal+, CNews, Europe 1, JDD..., Editor's note) and Baylet (director of the La Dépêche group, Editor's note), whose methods do not correspond to the values of Sud Ouest. There was great concern. The advantage of Rossel is that it is a professional group in the press. We will judge on the evidence."

“We are expecting at least a freeze on job cuts because we are at a loss,” warns the representative, who pushes the buyer, to “be well received”, to come with “the project of reinvesting in the number of journalists”, “amputated year after year”.

Sud Ouest, distributed at 164,000 copies per day in 2025 according to the ACPM/OJD, employs 700 employees including 230 journalists. The newspaper has undergone several recent restructurings with 81 departures in 2024, then this year a plan for around fifty voluntary departures or non-replacements by 2028.

“It is one of the PQR titles which has cut back the most in its editorial work, thus weakening its ability to renew itself editorially,” estimates media sociologist Jean-Marie Charon, interviewed by AFP. “As Rossel is not such a big group, I wonder if it will have the means to relaunch an editorial dynamic.”

The Sud Ouest group (GSO), which brings together Sapeso, the publishing company of Sud Ouest, other regional dailies (Charente Libre, La République des Pyrénées, etc.) as well as Côte Ouest (events) or Écrans du Monde (audiovisual), is approximately 80% owned by the Lemoîne family, heir to Jacques Lemoîne (1895-1968) who founded the newspaper in 1944.

If Sapeso was in deficit in 2025, GSO says it is profitable, with 30% of its revenue excluding paper newspapers.

Entering negotiations is "a heavy decision" taken "unanimously" by around fifty shareholders, with "a lot of emotion", Tristan Lemoîne, vice-president of the board of directors of GSO, told AFP.

Rossel is "a very solid, family shareholder", having "common values ​​with ours", and "apolitical, who does not intervene in the editorial line of its media", underlines the descendant of the founder.

“Critical size”

The two parties hope to complete the operation "by the end of the year", after consultation with staff representatives.

“Reaching a critical size is the key,” Olivier Cotinat, CEO of GSO, told AFP. “With artificial intelligence, there are undoubtedly fairly significant investments to be made to be able to continue to inform and fight against (...) content predation.”

Number one in the French-speaking Belgian press owned by the Hurbain family, Rossel, whose flagship title Le Soir was founded in 1887, owns several French regional dailies (La Voix du Nord, le Courrier Picard, L'Union-L'Ardennais, etc.) and claims 1,700 employees in France.

In the event of a marriage of the Sud Ouest group with Rossel, "there is no geographical synergy (...), no obvious duplication", underlines Olivier Cotinat, assuring that he has "no information today" on possible job cuts.

“With the Sud Ouest Group shares, France would then represent nearly 50% of our group’s turnover. A new dimension which would allow all of our entities to benefit from pooled resources and expertise,” argues Bernard Marchant, managing director of Rossel, in the press release.

© 2026 AFP

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