Le Figaro is one of the leading French morning daily newspapers. Its editorial line is conservative and has generally been supportive of the Rally for the Republic political party and its successor, the Union for a Popular Movement.

The Parisian paper was founded as a satirical weekly in 1826, taking its name and motto from Le Barbier de Seville, a play by Pierre Beaumarchais. (The motto, "Sans la liberté de blâmer, il n'est point d'éloge flatteur" translates as "Without the freedom to criticise, there is no praise".) It was published somewhat irregularly until 1854, when it was taken over by Hippolyte de Villemessant. By 1866 it had gained the greatest circulation of any newspaper in France; its first daily edition, that of 16 November 1866 sold 56,000 copies. Albert Wolff, Émile Zola, Alphonse Karr and Jules Claretie were among the paper's early contributors.

On March 16, 1914, Gaston Calmette , the editor of Le Figaro, was assassinated by Henriette Caillaux, the wife of a former Prime Minister of France after he published a letter that cast serious doubt on her husband's integrity.

By the start of World War II, Le Figaro had become France's leading newpaper. After the war it became the voice of the upper middle class, and continues to maintain a conservative position.

In 1922 Le Figaro was purchased by perfume millionaire François Coty. In 1975 Le Figaro was bought by Robert Hersant. In 1999 the Carlyle Group obtained a 40% stake in the paper, which it later sold in March of 2002. As of 2004, Le Figaro is controlled by Serge Dassault, a conservative businessman and politician best known for running the aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation. The ownership of a major national newspaper by a person who also controls a major military supplier, as well as being a mayor and senator from the ruling UMP party, and whose son Olivier Dassault is a member of the French National Assembly for the same party, was highly controversial inside and outside the newspaper. [1] In response, Dassault remarked in an interview on the public radio station France Inter [2], that "newspapers must promulgate healthy ideas", and that "left-wing ideas are not healthy ideas."

See also

• List of newspapers
• Le Monde
• Libération

External link

• Le Figaro website.
• Media profile of Le Figaro and Hersant.
• The Carlyle Group's explanation of its relationship with Le Figaro