Le Monde

Le Monde (French: [l(ə) mɔ̃d]; "The World") is a French newspaper founded in 1944 by Hubert Beuve-Méry. It is the most widely read paid national daily newspaper in France, with 2.44 million readers in 2021, and the most widely circulated, with around 500,000 subscribers, including 414,000 digital subscribers and 87,000 print subscribers.

It presents itself as a "newspaper of record". Former editor Éric Fottorino preferred not to describe the newspaper as a "newspaper of record", stating instead that it was "not just any newspaper", but rather one that "claims to become the reference, an alloy of competence and editorial independence built over several decades". It is nevertheless widely regarded as such, including internationally.

Le Monde is the last French daily traditionally described as an "evening paper". It is published in Paris in the early afternoon with the following day's date, and later in some major cities, before being distributed elsewhere the next morning.

According to Radio France, Le Monde has adopted successive editorial lines since its founding, generally located, albeit reductively, on the centre-left. A 2010 academic work also characterises its editorial stance as centre-left. In April 2022, an Ifop survey indicated that among regular readers of Le Monde, 48% voted for left-wing candidates in the first round of the 2012 presidential election, and 27% voted for Emmanuel Macron.

Le Monde is owned by Groupe Le Monde. Its shareholding structure includes the holding company Le Monde libre, notably owned by Xavier Niel and Matthieu Pigasse, and the Independence Pole, held by employees, trade unions, and associations.