Les Echos (France)

Les Echos (le.ze.ko) is the first daily French financial newspaper, founded in 1908 by brothers Robert and Émile Servan-Schreiber. It is the main competitor of La Tribune, a rival financial paper. The paper was established as a four-page monthly publication under Les Echos de l'Exportation by brothers Robert and Émile Servan-Schreiber in 1908. Becoming weekly in 1913, Les Echos de l'Exportation printed 5,000 copies. The newspaper ceased publication during the First World War. It reappeared at the war's end under Les Echos. In 1928, Les Echos became a daily newspaper. It became an authoritative newspaper for economic circles in 1937. It was suspended in 1939. Les Echos resumed its activities in 1945, with relevant topics for this time, such as textiles and mechanics. The period from 1945 to 1960 was described as "the Servan-Schreiber years", with the involvement of Jean-Jacques (L'Express founder), son of Émile, as well as Marie-Claire and Jean-Claude, children of Robert. However, tensions began to grow in the early 1960s. Pascale Santi of Le Monde wrote that it was the "clan war in the Servan-Schreiber family that had led to the sale of the newspaper". Les Echos was sold to Pierre and Jacqueline Beytout in 1963, who had only one objective: to make the newspaper a "genuine" economic daily with an international perspective. Jacqueline, chief executive officer of Les Echos, was also the publishing director from 1966 to 1989. In 1986, Jacqueline appointed her grandson Nicolas Beytout editor-in-chief, a position he kept until September 2004, when he was assigned the same duty at Le Figaro. Les Echos evolved, and sales increased as the 1990s approached, the newspaper becoming a newspaper of record in the French economic sector. The turnover was 600 million francs during this period, whereas it was 11 million francs in 1962. The British media group Pearson PLC bought the newspaper in 1988.