The world's largest luxury goods maker, LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, entered into exclusive negotiation talks with Pearson Plc to by the French financial newspaper Les Echos.

“Should the transaction proceed, LVMH intends to invest in Groupe Les Echos and grow its leading French business and financial titles,” including the Web site www.lesechos.fr and Enjeux magazine, the company said in a statement. LVMH is run by French billionaire Bernard Arnault.

Groupe Les Echos 2006 sales reached 126 million Euros, contributing 10 million Euros to Pearson's operating profit.

The possibility of selling Groupe Les Echos to LVMH, much like Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.'s bid to buy Dow Jones & Co., “raises concern among journalists that these billionaire owners would use news outlets to advance their business interests,” writes Bloomberg's Ladka Bauerova. In an e-mailed statement to Bloomberg, Les Echos employees wrote that a sale to LVMH would threaten the newspaper's editorial independence and would result in job cuts. Employees blocked publication of Wednesday's paper after the French daily newspaper Le Figaro reported that LVMH was a possible buyer.

LVMH said in a statement that it “has always considered editorial independence as being of the utmost importance as it contributes to the credibility, legitimacy and success of any newspaper. If the sale of Les Echos takes place, LVMH would include specific provisions in the agreement to ensure this editorial independence.”