Jean Prouvost (24 April 1885,Roubaix – 18 October 1978,Yvoy-le-Marron) was a French businessman, media owner and politician. Prouvost was best known for building and owning the publications that becameFrance-Soir,Paris Match, andTélé 7 Jours.
Prouvost was born into a family of industrialists from Northern France, the son of Albert Felix Prouvost, president of the Commercial Court of Roubaix, and Martha Devémy. Jean Prouvost was not the eldest son[1] and would not inherit the family firm,Peignage Amédée Prouvost. Prouvost instead borrowed one million francs and in 1911 startedLa Lainière de Roubaix, a textile company that quickly became a leader in the European textile industry.[2]
After theFirst World War, Jean Prouvost focused his interests on the newspaper business. In 1924 he boughtParis-Midi, a Paris daily[3] that then had a circulation of 4,000. Six years later, thanks to a bold commercial and editorial policy, circulation had reached 100,000. In 1930 he boughtParis-Soir,[4] where he introduced methods proven in the United States: extensive photo spreads, high quality paper, and especially the improvement of content. He recruited top journalists (Pierre Lazareff,Paul Gordeaux and Hervé Mille) and commissioned occasional contributions from prominent literary names:Colette covered various subjects;Jean Cocteau toured the world for the newspaper;Georges Simenon reported on sensational criminal cases. Prouvost hired as war correspondentsBlaise Cendrars,Joseph Kessel,Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, and Paul Gordeaux. Paris-Soir published story serializations fromMaurice Dekobra,[5]Pierre Mac Orlan andPierre Daninos.[6] From 70,000 copies in 1930, the circulation of Paris-Soir reached 1.7 million in 1936.[citation needed] Jean Prouvost soon had an empire that also includedMarie Claire, the women's magazine founded in March 1937, and the sports paperMatch, bought the following year fromLouis Louis-Dreyfus Group.
During theSecond World War, on 6 June 1940, with France on the verge of surrender, Prouvost became information minister in theReynaud government and on 19 June 1940 High Commissioner for Information in thePetain government, a post he resigned on 10 July 1940, when Pétain took dictatorial powers.[2]
During the Occupation, two versions ofParis-Soir were published: one in Paris, acollaborationist daily disowned by Jean Prouvost and his colleagues, and another published inLyon. During this period, Jean Prouvost was hated by both the Vichy regime and by the Resistance. At the Liberation he was charged withIndignité nationale, the criminal offense of collaboration with the Nazi regime, but the High Court dismissed the charge in 1947.[2]
After that time, Jean Prouvost began to rebuild his empire, dismantled after the liberation. TheFFI authorities had confiscated newspapers that had continued to publish after theGerman 1942 invasion of Vichy France.[6]: 238 While he had permanently lost Paris-Soir, which soon becameFrance-Soir under his former employee Pierre Lazareff,Match was reborn in 1949 under the nameParis Match,[2] with Paul Gordeaux as its first editor.Marie Claire restarted publication in 1953.[2] In 1950, Prouvost and Ferdinand Béghin together bought half the shares of the newspaperLe Figaro. In 1960, Jean Prouvost boughtTV 60, which he renamedTélé 7 Jours, a television magazine that became a huge success (with a circulation of 3 million copies in 1978). Paris Match's circulation later declined however, suffering from competition from radio and TV. Prouvost appointed the writerGaston Bonheur as director of his newspaper holdings.
In 1966, Prouvost became involved in radio and acquired a significant shareholding inRadio-Télé-Luxembourg.[2] Prouvost was appointed the company'sPrésident administrateur délégué (that is, Chairman and CEO) in 1965.[7] Prouvost renamed Radio Luxembourg as RTL on 11 October 1966 to make it seem less foreign to French listeners and changed the programming to adopt a more modern and friendly tone.
From 1970, the Prouvost empire entered a period of difficulties. In July 1975Le Figaro was sold toRobert Hersant, while in 1976Télé 7 Jours was sold to theHachette group[8] andParis Match was acquired by theFilipacchi group. By the time of Jean Prouvost's death in October 1978, only the women's publications remained in his family.
He married Germaine Lefebvre (died 1973),[9] daughter of Edmond Henri Lefebvre (a Roubaix industrialist) and Julie Marie Grimonprez.
In 1951, Prouvost became the mayor ofYvoy-le-Marron, a small village inLoir-et-Cher,[2] where he later retired.
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