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PARIS (AFP) — AFP news agency’s chief executive Fabrice Fries on Friday announced plans to save 12-14 million euros ($13.8-16.1 million) by the end of 2026 due to declining revenues.
Speaking in a video available to staff online, Fries said the agency would launch an immediate cost-savings plan to cut around 2 million euros by the end of 2025.
“But it’s really 2026 we need to prepare for, and here the bar will be much higher. We estimate that we will need to find between 10 and 12 million euros in savings,” he added.
“Of course, this is bad news, but AFP is resilient,” he continued.
AFP, one of the world’s biggest news agencies, which employs 2,600 staff worldwide, has been affected by several factors that have weighed on its financial performance.
Fears about a global recession had led many clients to enter “wait-and-see mode” and either delay investment decisions or reduce their budgets, Fries said.
Funding cuts from the U.S. government under President Donald Trump have also hit AFP clients, meaning “some have been forced to abruptly cancel their subscriptions,” he added.
Social network giant Facebook has also terminated its fact-checking program in the United States, for which AFP was an important paid partner.
“Thirdly, we have overestimated our ability to get Big Tech to recognize and pay for our intellectual property,” Fries said.
“We have to face up to the fact that the changing political situation in the U.S. means that tech companies are not feeling any pressure to respect copyright,” he added.
The media industry as a whole is also contending with further declines in advertising revenues and the advent of artificial intelligence.
‘Defense’
AFP’s boss did not specify whether the group would resort to job cuts to achieve its savings target, but he said “we have to question everything without taboos.”
The agency’s trade unions issued a statement vowing to “mobilize in defense of jobs and working conditions that allow AFP to continue its mission of producing quality journalism.”
They said they would “set out to meet with lawmakers and raise public awareness so that the world’s largest non-Anglo Saxon news agency does not begin a mortal decline” just after celebrating its 80th anniversary.
In 2024, AFP posted a net profit of 200,000 euros on revenues of 326.4 million euros.
After seven years of growth, AFP’s revenues are set to fall this year to around 8 million euros less than forecast in the budget, Fries said.
Alongside its commercial income, the agency also receives funding from the French state, which amounted to 118.9 million euros in 2024.
AFP is one of the world’s three major general news agencies, alongside U.S.-based Associated Press and Canadian-owned Reuters.
It produces news stories, photos, videos and graphics for media companies around the world in six languages.
It has a unique status in France that protects its independence, being neither a public company, nor a private entity.
Its clients, including the French state, are represented on its board of directors.
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By PAUL RICARD Agence France-Presse
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