Announcing the Launch of Le Huffington Post France

Published on Monday, 23 January 2012 08:28 Written by TradersHuddle Staff

PARIS-( Business Wire )-

Le Huffington Post France, an independent news and opinion site formed in partnership by The Huffington Post ("HuffPost"), The Le Monde Group and Les Nouvelles Editions Indépendantes (“LNEI”), goes live today. The site features HuffPost's unique combination of original reporting, aggregation, a leading-edge commenting forum, pioneering social engagement tools, and a vibrant, innovative platform for a wide range of voices. Bloggers contributing already total more than 200 and include stand up comedian Nicolas Bedos, law professor Guy Carcassonne, TV journalist Ali Baddou, and former presidential candidates Rachida Dati and Julein Dray.

Anne Sinclair is Editorial Director of Le Huffington Post. Paul Ackermann is Editor-in-Chief and will be in charge of daily operations. Le Monde Group, through its subsidiary MPublicité, will be in charge of advertising for Le Huffington Post.

Le Huffington Post offers coverage of politics, entertainment, living, style, world news, technology, and more, and in the coming month will grow to feature even more content across a wide range of genres. The site’s editorial team includes Johana Sabroux, Assistant Editor; Marc Botte, Blog Editor; Geoffroy Clavel, Politics Reporter; Alexandre Phalippou, Economics Reporter; Lauren Provost, Social Columnist; Grégory Raymond, Reporter; and Aude Lorriaux, Reporter.

Said Anne Sinclair: “For the past seven years, The Huffington Post has brought a liberating mix of controversy and ‘conversation’ -- a favorite word in America, one that also means the exchange of ideas, discussions, debates -- to the American digital landscape. And we're happy to say that Arianna Huffington is exporting her savoir-faire, her experience, her platform, her technological tools to our version here in France. Debate, in particular, is an omnipresent feature of French society. And we hope to encourage and expand that French commitment to debate even further. And we'll do that by opening up access to the public conversation and vastly expanding the pool of those who take part.”

Said Arianna Huffington: “I’ve loved France ever since I was 11 and my father took me and my sister to Paris -- our first trip outside Greece. So I’m delighted to be launching Le Huffington Post at this crucial time in France’s and Europe’s history, bringing HuffPost’s platform and emphasis on journalism, social media, and community to a country with its own unique sensibility, rich culture and diversity of voices.”

The Huffington Post is part of AOL’s Huffington Post Media Group, a leading source of news, opinion, entertainment, community and digital information, which includes The Huffington Post, Moviefone, Engadget, TechCrunch, Patch, and StyleList. The Group’s diverse network of sites combines journalism, technology, engagement, and video to reach a global audience on every platform. The Group has over 20,000 bloggers -- from politicians and celebrities to academics and policy experts -- who contribute in real-time on a wide-range of topics making news today. Among them are Nora Ephron, Larry Page, Bill Maher, Robert Redford, Madonna, Alec Baldwin, Scarlett Johansson, Bill Gates, and Charlie Rose. The Huffington Post has 36 million unique visitors a month, per comScore (December 2011). The Huffington Post UK and The Huffington Post Canada both launched last year. Le Huffington Post Quebec is scheduled to launch in February, El Huffington Post Spain is scheduled to launch in March, and the recently announced L’Huffington Post Italia is scheduled to launch this year.

About AOL:

Having helped millions of Americans to get online, AOL Inc. is on a mission to inform, entertain and connect the world. The home of a world-class collection of premium brands, AOL creates original content that engages audiences on a local and global scale. We help marketers connect with these audiences through effective and engaging digital advertising solutions.

About Les Nouvelles Editions Indépendantes (LNEI):

LNEI is the holding company of Matthieu Pigasse, which owns the French cultural weekly magazine Les Inrockuptibles, and has a majority stake in Le Monde Group jointly with Pierre Bergé and Xavier Niel.

About Le Monde Group:

Leading independent media group in France, Le Monde Group publishes French leading national newspaper, Le Monde, and several weekly magazines, among them Télérama, Courrier International and La Vie. Through its web sites, lemonde.fr, télérama.fr, courrierinternational.com, la vie.fr, lepost.fr, Le Monde Group has a combined audience of nearly 8M unique monthly visitors (Nielsen).

AOLMario Ruiz, 212-402-7126VP, Communications, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.