Le Monde is a French daily evening newspaper founded by Hubert Beuve-Méry and continuously published in Paris since its first edition on 19 December 1944. It is one of two French newspapers of record along with Le Figaro, and the main publication of La Vie-Le Monde Group. It reports an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which are sold abroad.