French economy minister Emmanuel Macron has said he would be opposed to part state-owned operator Orange entering into exclusive talks with Hong Kong’s PCCW about the sale of a 49 percent stake in video portal Dailymotion told Le Monde. He said the government has asked Orange to take European digital sovereignty into consideration. He added to AFP, "It is necessary that all options can be examined," suggesting that a European partner would be preferable at time of sale.
Orange recently said that it was not in exclusive negotiations and that it was keeping its options open. Macron's position is similar to his predecessor's, Arnaud Montebourg, who objected to the possible sale of Dailymotion to US company Yahoo. According to Le Monde, AlloCine owner Fimalac is interested, and Axel Springer, Bertelsmann and Vivendi are potential partners.
