Le Monde, the most influential French newspaper, will begin the search for a new editor, a new strategy and €50 million (£34 million) next week after journalists ousted the man who has been their boss since 1994.

In a vote after an anguished debate over the future of the Parisian daily, Jean-Marie Colombani, 58, failed last week in his attempt to secure a third mandate as directeur. Under the statutes that regulate Le Monde, Mr Colombani needed the backing of 60 per cent of the title’s journalists, but he won only 48 per cent.

Detractors criticised what they said was his authoritarian management style and his drive to turn an independent daily into a national media group backed by outside investors. However, at the heart of the dispute was a concern among journalists that they were close to losing the power that had been conferred upon them in 1944 by Hubert Beuve-Méry, the founder of Le Monde.

“I have been here for 22 years and, although I know the world has changed a lot in that time, I hope journalists don’t totally lose control,” Jean-Michel Dumay, the chairman of the association that represents Le Monde journalists, said. “He [Mr Colombani] behaved liked a king, and now we need someone who can manage a team.”

Although Mr Colombani has been battling to stay on despite the vote, his dismissal is expected to be confirmed by the supervisory board of the newspaper on June 12. Pierre Jeantet, the managing director, is among the favourites to succeed Mr Colombani, along with Philippe Thureau-Dangin, the chairman of Courrier International, a foreign affairs weekly that is owned by Le Monde.

The supervisory board will select a candidate, who will be submitted for approval by staff in a secret ballot. Journalists say that the process – unlike any appointment system in Britain – guarantees editorial independence.

When Mr Colombani took over 13 years ago, Le Monde was losing circulation and facing bankruptcy. Promising to make the newspaper “a lighthouse for French society”, Mr Colombani modernised the title, introducing photographs and lifestyle articles while abandoning deep philosophical essays on the front page.

To protect the core title, Mr Colombani tried to diversify, aiming to expand sales to €1 billion a year. Le Monde bought Midi Libre, a regional daily, in 2000 and Les Publications de la Vie Catholique, a Christian press group, three years later. These operations gave Le Mondeannual sales of €631 million last year, and an alliance with Hachette’s southern regional titles was also sought to take revenues to about €900 million.

However, finances have always been precarious. After an initial rise, circulation has stagnated at about 350,000 amid a prolonged crisis for the French press, and the finances have not improved. Le Monde lost €14.3 million last year, bringing combined losses since 2000 to €146 million. The acquisitions were funded with borrowings that now exceed €100 million, and to keep the expansion going Mr Colombani brought in outside capital, diluting the control that the journalists traditionally held. Lagardère took 17 per cent and Prisa, of Spain, 15 per cent.

Although journalists retained majority voting rights, they foresaw the end of their power. Mr Dumay said: “There is a big difference between our rights and our economic weight. You could see the day coming when an investor would say: ‘We’re paying, now we want to run the newspaper’.”

Fears were fuelled when Mr Colombani said that a fresh €50 million was needed this year. But his departure is likely to make investors such as Lagardère balk at the request for funds, leaving Le Monde facing deep uncertainty.

However, Mr Dumay was adamant that Mr Colombani had to go. “It was time to say stop and to start again with someone else,” he said. But the journalists’ victory in forcing out their directeur may merely store up trouble for the future.

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