Metro (Swedish newspaper)

Metro was a free daily newspaper in Sweden. It was printed in four editions: Stockholm, Gothenburg, Skåne and National, which were distributed in 67 towns and cities throughout the country. The paper was the first European free paper.[1] On 8 August 2019, its cancellation was announced.[2]

Metro
Metro's international logo
Typenewspaper
Formatbroadsheet
PublisherMetro International
FoundedFebruary 14, 1995 (1995-02-14)
Political alignmentindependent
LanguageSwedish
HeadquartersStockholm

History and profile

Metro Stockholm was the first version. The paper was launched on 13 February 1995 and distributed in the Stockholm Metro. Its owner and founding company is Modern Times Group (MTG), a subsidiary of the Swedish conglomerate Kinnevik.[3] The paper is published in tabloid format by Metro International.[4][5]

For a long time, Metro was the sole free newspaper available in the different metropolitan areas. In 2002, the Bonnier group launched Stockholm City in the Stockholm region. City expanded into Gothenburg and Malmö in September 2006 and was followed a few weeks later by the Schibsted-backed Punkt SE in all three cities. City Göteborg was closed down in late 2007. In May 2008 Metro had reached an agreement with Schibsted that meant that Punkt SE would be closed down and Schibsted would buy a 35 percent share of Metro Sweden.[6]

In the period of 2001-2002 Metro had a circulation of 384,000 copies.[4] Hard hit by the introduction of smart phones, which led morning commuters and other key groups of readers to follow news on cell phones instead of picking up free newspapers, Metro's finances grew increasingly strained in the 2000s. Unable to pay its bills, the newspaper ceased publication in 2019 after briefly attempting to survive as an online-only publication.[7]

Comics

Both the long-featured comic strip Elvis, by Tony Cronstam,[8] and the earlier Rocky, by Martin Kellerman, were first published in Metro Stockholm.

References
  1. "Uutislehti 100 (Finland) closes next month". Newspaper Innovation. 12 August 2008. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  2. "Metro läggs ned" (in Swedish). Aftonbladet. 9 August 2019. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  3. Lynne Wilcox (2005). "Metro, info, haro! Fierce reactions to regime competition in the French newspaper industry". Media, Culture & Society. 27 (3). Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  4. Piet Bakker (2002). "Free daily newspapers ‐ business models and strategies". International Journal on Media Management. 4 (3): 180–187. doi:10.1080/14241270209389998.
  5. Stig Hadenius; Lennart Weibull (1999). "The Swedish Newspaper System in the Late 1990s. Tradition and Transition" (PDF). Nordicom Review. 1 (1). Retrieved 31 December 2014.
  6. "Schibsted acquires 35% of Metro Sweden and closes down Punkt SE" (Press release). Schibsted. 19 May 2008.
  7. Lindberg, Andreas. "Skatteverket kräver på nytt att Metro sätts i konkurs". Dagens Nyheter. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
  8. Metro - Serier Archived 2006-06-16 at the Wayback Machine
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