Le Monde

Le Monde is a French daily afternoon newspaper founded by Hubert Beuve-Méry at the request of Charles de Gaulle on 19 December 1944, shortly after the Liberation of Paris, and published continuously since its first edition.

Le Monde is one of the French newspapers of record, counting also Libération, and Le Figaro, and the main publication of Le Monde Group. It reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website since 19 December 1995, and is often the only French newspaper easily obtainable in non-French-speaking countries. It should not be confused with the monthly publication Le Monde diplomatique, of which Le Monde has 51% ownership, but which is editorially independent.