() is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. The oldest national newspaper in France, is considered a French newspaper of record, along with and (to a lesser extent) Libération. Le Figaro is the second-largest national newspaper nationally, after Le Monde. It was named after Figaro, a character in several plays by polymath Beaumarchais (1732–1799): Le Barbier de Séville, La Mère coupable, and the eponymous Le Mariage de Figaro. One of his lines became the paper's motto: "Without the freedom to criticise, there is no flattering praise".
It has a centre-right editorial stance, and has published writing by renowned contributors such as Émile Zola, Anatole France, Marcel Proust, François Mauriac, as well as Raymond Aron.
The paper is published in Berliner format. Its editorial director has been Alexis Brézet since 2012. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. Since 2004, it has been owned by Dassault Group. Other Groupe Figaro publications include Le Figaro Magazine and TV Magazine.
Le Figaro is the main sponsor of the yearly Solitaire du Figaro sailing race.
History
was founded as a satirical weekly in 1826, taking its name and motto from Le Mariage de Figaro, the 1778 play by Pierre Beaumarchais that poked fun at privilege. Its motto, from Figaro's monologue in the play's final act, is "Sans la liberté de blâmer, il n'est point d'éloge flatteur" ("Without the freedom to criticise, there is no flattering praise"). In 1833, editor Nestor Roqueplan fought a duel with a Colonel Gallois, who was offended by an article in , and was wounded but recovered. Albert Wolff, Émile Zola, Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, Théophile Gautier, and Jules Arsène Arnaud Claretie were among the paper's early contributors. It was published somewhat irregularly until 1854, when it was taken over by Hippolyte de Villemessant.
In 1866, became a daily newspaper. Its first daily edition, that of 16 November 1866, sold 56,000 copies, having highest circulation of any newspaper in France. Its editorial line was royalist.Alan Grubb, The Politics of Pessimism: Albert de Broglie and Conservative Politics in the Early Third Republic Pauline Savari was among the contributors to the paper at this time.
On 20 February 1909 published a manifesto signed by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti which initiated the establishment of Futurism in art.
On 16 March 1914, Gaston Calmette, the editor of , was assassinated by Henriette Caillaux, the wife of Finance Minister Joseph Caillaux, after he published a letter that cast serious doubt on her husband's integrity.Sarah Sissmann and Christophe Barbier, "Une épouse outragée" , L'Express, 30 August 2004. Retrieved 27 January 2007. In 1922, was purchased by perfume millionaire François Coty.Janet Flanner (3 May 1930),"Perfume and Politics", The New Yorker. Republished 7 May 2005. Retrieved 27 January 2007. Abel Faivre did cartoons for the paper. Coty enraged many in March 1929 when he renamed the paper simply Figaro, which it remained until 1933.Roulhac Toledano, Elizabeth Z. Coty, "Napoleon of the Press","François Coty: Fragrance, Power, Money". Retrieved 28 May 2018
By the start of World War II, had become France's leading newspaper. After the war, it became the voice of the upper middle class, and continues to maintain a conservative position.
In 1975, was bought by Robert Hersant's Socpresse. In 1999, The Carlyle Group obtained a 40% stake in the paper, which it later sold in March 2002. Since March 2004, has been controlled by Serge Dassault, a conservative businessman and politician best known for running the aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation, which he inherited from his father, its founder, Marcel Dassault (1892–1986). Dassault owns 80% of the paper, by way of its media subsidiary Groupe Figaro.
Franz-Olivier Giesbert was editorial director of Le Figaro from 1998 to 2000.
In 2006, was banned in Egypt and Tunisia for publishing articles allegedly insulting Islam.
switched to Berliner format in 2009. The paper has published The New York Times International Weekly on Friday since 2009, an 8-page supplement featuring a selection of articles from The New York Times translated into French. In 2010, Lefigaro.fr created a section called Le Figaro in English, which provides the global English-speaking community with daily original or translated content from website. The section ended in 2012.
In the 2010s, saw future presidential candidate Éric Zemmour's columns garner great interest among readers that would later serve to launch his political career."Présidentielle 2022 : Zemmour se retire du Figaro pour la promotion de son livre, un pas de plus vers une candidature ?", Le Parisien (in French), 1 September 2021.
Logo
Editorial stance and controversies
has traditionally held a conservative editorial stance, becoming the voice of the French upper and middle classes.
The newspaper's ownership by Serge Dassault was a source of controversy in terms of conflict-of-interest, as Dassault also owned a major military supplier and served in political positions from the Union for a Popular Movement party. His son Olivier Dassault served as a member of the French National Assembly."Dassault se sépare d'Yves de Chaisemartin", , 1 October 2004. Retrieved 27 January 2007. Dassault has remarked in an interview in 2004 on the public radio station France Inter that "newspapers must promulgate healthy ideas" and that "left-wing ideas are not healthy ideas.", , 12 December 2004. Retrieved 27 January 2007.
In February 2012, a general assembly of the newspaper's journalists adopted a motion accusing the paper's managing editor, Étienne Mougeotte, of having made into the "bulletin" of the governing party, the Union for a Popular Movement, of the government and of President Nicolas Sarkozy. They requested more pluralism and "honesty" and accused the paper of one-sided political reporting. Mougeotte had previously said that would do nothing to embarrass the government and the right.""Le Figaro" n'est pas "le bulletin d'un parti"", , 9 February 2012"La question du jour. "Le Figaro" est-il un journal d'opinion ou un "bulletin" de l'UMP?", Le Nouvel Observateur, 10 February 2012"Présidentielle : les journalistes du Figaro réclament un journal plus « honnête »" , Rue89, 9 February 2012 Mougeotte publicly replied: "Our editorial line pleases our readers as it is, it works. I don't see why I should change it. [...] We are a right-wing newspaper and we express it clearly, by the way. Our readers know it, our journalists too. There's nothing new to that!"""Le Figaro" : Mougeotte répond aux critiques de ses journalistes", Le Nouvel Observateur, 10 February 2012
Circulation history In the period of 1995–96, the paper had a circulation of 391,533 copies, behind Le Parisiens 451,159 copies.
Year 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Circulation 366,690 360,909 366,529 369,108 369,706 365,083 337,118 332,818 338,618 330,482 323,991 325,509
Year 2011 20122013201420152016 2017 2018 2019 2020 Circulation 329,367 330,952324,170320,732317,152311,127 312,994 313,694 329,462 331,927
Le Figaro Group Le Figaro formed the Groupe Figaro (a subsidiary of the Marcel Dassault Industrial Group). The former company, Socpresse, which was dismantled in 2005, officially became Dassault Media (Figaro Group) in 2011..
The daily Le Figaro and its supplements The newspaper was accompanied by two daily supplements: Le Figaro Économie, since 1984, printed on salmon-colored paper, and Le Figaro et vous, since 2005, dedicated to culture and lifestyle.
Additionally: The Monday edition was accompanied by a tabloid-format supplement, Le Figaro Réussir, as well as four special "Health" pages since February 2010. The Tuesday edition was accompanied by an 8-page supplement, New York Times. The Wednesday edition, in addition to the usual four sections, included the Le Figaro Étudiant section and was accompanied in Île-de-France by a supplement on entertainment and leisure, Le Figaroscope. The Thursday edition was accompanied by an 8-page supplement, Le Figaro Littéraire. The Friday and Saturday editions optionally included more voluminous magazine-type supplements: Le Figaro Magazine, Madame Figaro, and TV Magazine.
Other supplements, sections, and titles Le Figaro Patrimoine was a monthly supplement of Le Figaro. Le Figaro Étudiant was a monthly supplement of Le Figaro. F, l'art de vivre du Figaro (formerly Almaviva). was a supplement of Le Figaro published six times a year (September, October, November, March, April, May) since September 2015. Figaro plus was a thematic supplement (sports or others) published irregularly; Le Figaro demain was an irregularly-published supplement; Paris Chic was a section of about thirty pages offering a selection of articles from the "Et vous" section, dedicated to lifestyle and the Figaroscope, aimed at wealthy Chinese visitors in Paris. The Figaro Group relaunched the title Jours de France, specializing in celebrity news and European royal families. It first appeared as a website in 2011, then as a quarterly print magazine from 7 August 2013.. Every week, a volume of the "essentials" of the Encyclopædia Universalis was sold as a supplement on Tuesdays, with the first volume being free. This encyclopedia contained 6,000 articles, 17,000 notices, and 200,000 links.
Online edition
The online newspaper's address has been lefigaro.fr since 1999.
In January 2010, lefigaro.fr introduced features reserved for subscribers."Official announcement of the launch of the premium offer at the beginning of 2010". Access to archived articles was also made available for a fee. In September 2011, the newspaper launched an online wine magazine. In February 2014, FigaroVox, a platform for debates and ideas, was launched.Thierry Wojciak, "Figaro Vox: a platform for debates and ideas," CBS News, 3 February 2014.Alexandre Debouté, "Le Figaro launches the debate platform FigaroVox," Le Figaro, 3 February 2014.
In 2008, Le Figaro became the leading news site on the Internet according to Internet audience data published by Nielsen Médiamétrie/NetRatings.. On 17 November 2011, the site was awarded the title of "Best Mobile Media" for the second time at the 2011 Mobile Internet Trophies.. In 2013, it was still ranked as the leading French online press site in France.Benjamin Ferran, "Le Figaro redesigns its website to better tell the news", in Le Figaro, "Economy" section, Wednesday, 6 November 2013, page 27. In November of the same year, it broke the record of 11 million unique visitors on a French news website.Enguérand Renault, "Audience record for the Figaro website", "Economy" section, Thursday, 2 January 2014, p. 24.
On 13 April 2015, Figaro Premium was launched, a paid offer (€9.90 per month initially, increasing to €15; free for newspaper subscribers). It provided access to all articles from Le Figaro and its related magazines in a more comfortable reading format with minimal advertising, available from 10 p.m. the evening before the print daily. At this stage, digital activities represented 25% of the group's revenue and 22% of advertising revenue. Various platforms were simultaneously created: Scan Politique, Scan Sport, Scan TV, Figaro Immobilier, Figaro Jardin, and recently, Scan Éco.Chloé Woitier, "Le Figaro Premium arrives Monday", Le Figaro, Saturday 11 / Sunday 12 April 2015, p. 24.
The number of digital subscribers grew rapidly. In 2017, Le Figaro had 80,000 digital subscribers, in addition to 70,000 subscribers to both print and digital editions.. In 2019, it was among the 50 most visited sites in FranceTop sites in France - Alexa Rank and had 130,000 digital subscribers. The milestone of 200,000 website subscribers was reached in November 2020.