Jean Prouvost

Jean Prouvost (24 April 1885, Roubaix – 18 October 1978, Yvoy-le-Marron) was a businessman, media owner and French politician. Prouvost was best known for building and owning the publications that became France-Soir, Paris Match, and Télé 7 Jours.

Prouvost was born into a family of industrialists from Northern France, the son of Albert Felix Prouvost, president of the Commercial Court of Roubaix, and Martha Devémy. Jean Prouvost was not the eldest son and would not inherit the family firm, Peignage Amédée Prouvost. Prouvost instead borrowed one million francs and in 1911 started , a textile company that quickly became a leader in the European textile industry.

After the First World War, Jean Prouvost focused his interests on the newspaper business. In 1924 he bought Paris-Midi, a Paris daily that then had a circulation of 4,000. Six years later, thanks to a bold commercial and editorial policy, circulation had reached 100,000. In 1930 he bought Paris-Soir, where he introduced methods proven in the United States: extensive photo spreads, high quality paper, and especially the improvement of content. He recruited top journalists (, and Hervé Mille) and commissioned occasional contributions from prominent literary names: Colette covered various subjects; Jean Cocteau toured the world for the newspaper; Georges Simenon reported on sensational criminal cases. Prouvost hired as war correspondents Blaise Cendrars, Joseph Kessel, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, and Paul Gordeaux. Paris-Soir published story serializations from Maurice Dekobra,Pierre Mac Orlan and Pierre Daninos. From 70,000 copies in 1930, the circulation of Paris-Soir reached 1.7 million in 1936. Jean Prouvost soon had an empire that also included Marie Claire, the women's magazine bought in March 1937, and the sports paper Match, bought the following year to Louis Louis-Dreyfus Group.

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