Le Temps

• 1. Introduction

  ›

  Le Temps, the Swiss French-language daily, arrived on newsstands for the first time on the 18th of March 1998. Its launch was not a triumph of ambition alone. It was the last viable exit from a slow-motion collapse that had threatened to wipe out French-language quality journalism in Switzerland entirely. Three old newspapers had staggered into the late 1990s with dwindling readers, mounting losses, and no clear path forward. What emerged from their wreckage became the sole nationwide French-language non-specialised daily newspaper in the country. How did a paper born out of financial desperation become a newspaper of record? And what nearly finished it off two decades later?

• 2. Three Papers, One Crisis

  ›

  The Gazette de Lausanne was founded in 1798, making it one of the oldest papers in the region. The Journal de Genève followed in 1826, and Le Nouveau Quotidien, known as the NQ, was founded in 1991. By the early 1990s, the oldest two were already in trouble. The Gazette de Lausanne and the Journal de Genève merged in 1991, forming the Journal de Genève et Gazette de Lausanne, partly in response to the anticipated competition from the NQ.

  The merged paper and the NQ soon found themselves in the same predicament. In 1996, the editorial staffs of both papers met to explore a merger. Publisher Edipresse declined. The company calculated that consolidation would require layoffs, and it would not approve a deal on those terms. A year later, the situation had deteriorated enough that both sides came back to the table. This time, the merger was agreed.

• 3. Building the New Paper

  ›

  The editor-in-chief of the news magazine L'Hebdo was chosen to lead the new publication as its director and editor-in-chief. He had previously worked at the NQ, which gave him credibility with both of the merging camps. The combined operation would be headquartered in Geneva and named provisionally the Nouveau Journal before its permanent identity was settled. The editors-in-chief of the two predecessor papers, Ignace Jeannerat and Campiotti, were brought in to support the new leadership.

  Ownership was divided carefully. The Journal de Genève's company and Edipresse would each hold 47% of the new title, with the future editorial team holding the remaining 6%. The new editor-in-chief was direct about his intentions: the paper should not be a patchwork of the old two publications, but an entirely new one. The Competition Commission accepted the merger in December 1997. Regulators acknowledged that Edipresse gained a market advantage, but concluded the merger was the least harmful option given that the Journal de Genève was unlikely to survive market conditions on its own. In February 1998, both predecessor papers were discontinued. Le Temps launched the following month.

• 4. Ownership Through the Decades

  ›

  David de Pury, a Swiss businessman and diplomat, served as the founding chairman of the board of directors and played a key role in shaping the paper's governance structure. Edipresse held 47% of shares until 2011, when it sold that stake to Tamedia. Ringier AG then acquired the paper in 2014. Two years later, Ringier and Axel Springer founded a joint venture that became Le Temps's new owner.

  The paper's circulations peaked early. In 2006, it reached 45,970 copies. By 2009 it stood at 45,506, with 44,450 in 2010, of which 87% were subscriptions. The slide accelerated in the late 2010s. Subscriptions fell to 20,000, half the figure from five years earlier, then dropped further to 14,000 in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic cut advertising revenues for the French Swiss press by 80%. By November 2020, the paper had agreed to be sold to Fondation Aventinus, a private non-profit foundation. The acquisition was completed in January 2021 for an estimated 6.5 million euros, with all roughly 100 staff transferred to a newly established company in Geneva.

• 5. Going Digital, Staying Print

  ›

  Le Temps was an early adopter of digital-first production, a model in which material is prepared for digital platforms before going to print. The paper publishes on weekdays and also produces a separate Saturday issue. Until March 2025, it was printed at Tamedia printing works in Bussigny; since then, printing has moved to the DZB printing center in Bern.

  Following the 2021 ownership change to Fondation Aventinus, print production became more detached from web operations. The paper's website is letemps.ch and it also offers a mobile app. In May 2026, Le Temps launched a special digital edition aimed at readers in France, a recognition of the fact that a large portion of its audience is already based there.

• 6. Archives and Recognition

  ›

  Le Temps digitised the archives of all three of its predecessor papers. Working with the Swiss National Library and regional libraries, the project made those archives freely accessible online at www.letempsarchives.ch, a resource that has been available since 2016. The breadth of that collection stretches back to the Gazette de Lausanne's founding year of 1798, giving readers access to more than two centuries of French-language Swiss journalism.

  The Research Department on Public Opinion and Society, known as FÖG, at the University of Zurich has rated Le Temps as being of "high quality." By 2025, the paper's circulation stood at 35,667, and in 2021 Le Temps SA also acquired the news portal Heidi.news, which had been founded in 2019.