LIBÉRATION, the French newspaper co-founded by Jean-Paul Sartre as the voice of anti-capitalism, is looking for a capitalist saviour after being given six months to stave off bankruptcy.

Today the daily, which was awarded court protection last week, will begin the search for an investor capable of wiping out expected losses this year of €13 million (£8.8 million).

Libé, as it is known in France, is facing the biggest crisis in its 33-year history, with sales down 17 per cent since 2001 to just 134,000 a day.

With creditors demanding a total of €3.5 million, annual outgoings of €45 million, revenue of €30 million and no money in the bank, Libération came “within a whisker” of insolvency last week, according to sources at the newspaper.

Instead, the Paris Commercial Court authorised a “safeguard procedure” — similar to Chapter 11 under American law — which enables a business to continue to function for six months.

“That means we will be able to participate in the presidential election campaign, which is a stroke of luck,” said François Wenz-Dumas, the French National Journalists’ Union representative, who believes that sales will rise ahead of the poll next spring.

The commercial court, applying legislation introduced this year and also used by Eurotunnel to win a respite against bankruptcy, appointed Maître Régis Valliot as judicial administrator to oversee Libération’s rescue plan.

Maître Vailliot will be working alongside le capitaliste already installed at the heart of the newspaper, which was created in 1973 to capture the spirit of a generation shaped by a counter-culture that believed in the possibility of a better world. He is Edouard de Rothschild, a member of the celebrated banking dynasty, who injected €20 million and took a 38.9 per cent stake in the newspaper last year.

M de Rothschild, the chairman of France Galop, the body that runs French horse racing, will demand restructuring, streamlined management and up to 100 job cuts at a board meeting on October 18. He says that his plan represents “the last chance” for Libération.

His previous cost-saving plan, which led to 56 redundancies, sparked a four-day strike, during which Libération was absent from news-stands. According to French press reports, M de Rothschild is reluctant to put more money into the daily and is looking for a second investor to work with.

Journalists at the newspaper appealed to readers for funds, but few have responded. Libération’s staff have an 18.45 per cent stake in the daily, with a range of media and financial groups holding 42.65 per cent.

The newspaper is seeking a new editor after Serge July, a co-founding editor and editorial figurehead, left this summer following a conflict with M de Rothschild over restructuring. Edwy Plenel, a hard-left former investigative reporter at Le Monde, and Laurent Joffrin, the editor of the centre-left magazine Le Nouvel Observateur, are among the favourites to replace him.

The turmoil at Libération comes amid a crisis affecting all French newspapers, whose sales fell by 13.5 per cent and advertising revenue by 16 per cent between 2001 and 2005. Sales are far lower than in other European countries. The bestselling national daily is the sports specialist L’Equipe, with an average of 351,852 copies, followed by Le Figaro (321,490) and Le Monde (313,977).

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