The next deadline is at the end of March. The magazine VSD has been placed in compulsory liquidation with continuation of activity until March 31, date of the decision on its possible recovery, indicated on Monday its director, Georges Ghosn, confirming information from the Correspondence of the press.
The Paris Commercial Court “gave me a chance to be able to make a takeover offer. I will do it with certain members of the editorial staff, ”said Georges Ghosn. “We have two months. The offers are to be submitted before March 1, then, the time to decide, we have an additional month during which the activity continues, ”he added.
VSD had emerged from nearly two years of receivership in April 2021, its recovery plan having been endorsed by the commercial court. The receivership was initiated in August 2019, a year after the purchase of the title by Georges Ghosn from the Prisma group in June 2018.
According to the latter, VSD is now almost in balance, but is struggling to cope with a cumulative liability of 3.9 million euros, due to the rise in the price of paper and energy. Paper “has become the first item” of expenses, he assured, saying he now pays 1,300 euros per ton against 500 previously.
Prisma sued
“And energy has increased by 20 to 25% among printers, who have raised their prices. We arrive at colossal bills which did not make it possible to repay the liabilities, ”he said. According to him, VSD employs eight employees (including himself) and a dozen freelancers. It is distributed in 35,000 copies for sale by number, and has 10,000 subscribers.
VSD was launched in 1977 by Maurice Siegel, former director of Europe 1 radio. In difficulty, it was bought in 1996 by Prisma, which sold it in 2018 to Georges Ghosn, former boss of France Soir. From that date, it became monthly, whereas it was initially weekly.
Georges Ghosn also indicated that he had taken Prisma and its former owner, the Bertelsmann group, to court over the terms of the sale of the magazine in 2018.