The company was founded by Per Andersson, and started as a subsidiary of theModern Times Group along withViasat Broadcasting. It is now controlled through theMats Qviberg-owned-investment companyCustos.[2] The first edition of the newspaper was published asMetro Stockholm and distributed in theStockholm metro. As of 2012[update], all European editions have been sold.[3][4]
As of October 2009[update], there were 56 daily editions in 15 languages and in 19 countries across Europe, North and South America, and Asia, for an audience of more than 17 million daily readers and 37 million weekly readers.[1]
Metro newspaper editions are distributed in high-traffic commuter zones or in public transport networks via a combination of self-service racks and by-hand distributors on weekdays. Saturday editions are published inStockholm,Santiago,São Paulo, andLima. The distribution points are located in high-density population areas.
Metro International launched several editions inCanada in 2000, leading to the creation of several commuter newspaper competitors, such asSun Media's24 Hours.
The local name ofMetro newspaper editions sometimes vary due to trademark issues.Peruvian,Chilean, andMexican editions are calledPublimetro, and the Spanish edition is calledMetro Directo.
Not all newspapers namedMetro are part of the Metro International Group.Associated Newspapers publishesanother freesheet calledMetro in twelve areas aroundBritain. This UKMetro is not related to Metro International, which used the nameMorning News for its (now defunct) free sheet distributed there. However, Metro International and Associated Metro collaborated on theDublinMetro Herald newspaper (launched 10 October 2005), which they both own a third of, along withThe Irish Times. The Dublin Metro newspaper uses the Associated Metro logo and format, however.[5] It is reported that Metro International has plans to launch a rival-free evening newspaper in London.[6][7]
There are also other examples of newspapers named Metro that are not part of Metro International Group. In Belgium, Mass Transit Media, a joint venture ofConcentra andRossel, publishes the free daily newspaperMetro. In California, United States,Metro Silicon Valley is a free weekly newspaper founded in 1985. Neither of these newspapers have links to Metro International.
In Hong Kong, Metro International soldMetro Daily in 2013 to a local businessman.[8]
Metro was first launched in Stockholm on 13 February 1995.
The first international edition was launched in Budapest, Hungary in Hungarian (1998) and became the most popular daily with 400.000 daily edition. The newspaper had two editions, in the countryside and in Budapest. The popular Metro - later renamed as Metropol - was sold to a Hungarian private editor in 2011 and became a target of political fights. The newspaper was closed in 2015. On 7 September 2020, the daily restarted with the British Metro look and the same name, renaming the pro-government tabloid Lokál.
A German-language edition is published inSwitzerland by Metro Publication (Schweiz) AG under the nameMetropol on 31 January 2000 as a direct competitor to20 Minuten. The newspaper ceased publication without announcement on 13 February 2002.
In 2000, a Spanish edition namedPublimetro, and is published in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with a circulation of 390,000.[9] Facing competition from the free dailyLa Razón published byGrupo Clarín,Publimetro is suspended indefinitely a year later.[10]
A weekly magazine namedMetropop starts publication inHong Kong on 27 April 2006 (published on Thursdays).
At the end of 2006, Metro started a dedicated technology paper, Metro Teknik (English section)[11] which is distributed weekly to companies, science parks, and technical universities around Sweden.
Due to financial difficulties in the press sector in general, and the free press in particular, Metro International closed down itsPolish edition on 5 January 2007. Earlier, theDanish afternoon version of the newspaper was closed down, and the business inFinland was sold.[citation needed]
As of October 2008, theCroatianMetro edition was also cancelled, due to disappointingadvertorial income.
As of 29 January 2009, Metro International closed down its Spanish operations.
As of 31 May 2012, Metro International was de-listed from theNASDAQ OMX Stockholm stock exchange.[13]
In August 2016, the French version of the newspaper, published since 2002 and property of TF1 since 2011, is discontinued.[circular reference]
In September 2016, the Portuguese version of the newspaper, published since 2004 and property of Cofina since 2009, is discontinued.[14]
In August 2019, the newspaper ceased operations in Sweden.
On 20 March 2020, the last Netherlands edition of theMetro, published since 21 June 1999, was distributed.[15] It continues as an online news platform, owned by Mediahuis Nederland B.V.[16]
South Korea:Metro is published inBusan andSeoul. It started as the first free newspaper inSouth Korea and is the only officially distributed free newspaper in South Korea following the bankruptcy of the free newspaper Daily Nocut News in 2014.[17][18]
Hong Kong:Metro was distributed acrossMTR stations inKowloon,Hong Kong Island,Tsuen Wan andTseung Kwan O until 2019, when it stopped publishing newspapers. Since then, it has been an internet-only newspaper.
Belgium has a bilingual freenewspaper with the same name, but it is not owned by Metro International. Likewise,Metro in theUnited Kingdom is not part of the network.In France, the Metronews has been acquired and merged by the media companyLCI - itself property of TF1.
FormerMetro newspaper vending boxes inToronto. It was rebranded in 2017 asStarMetro after merging withTorstar Corporation
Canada: The first CanadianMetro paper was launched inToronto in 2000, and eventually launched in multiple cities across Canada through joint ventures with Canadian companies or through brand licensing. As of 2023, no editions remain.
Became a 50-50 joint venture withTorstar in 2001. In 2017,Postmedia Network acquiredMetro inOttawa and discontinued the publication.[19] Metro International sold most of its stake in English-Canadian newspapers to Torstar in 2011. It continued to hold a 10% stake in theStarMetro newspaper chain published inCalgary,Edmonton,Halifax,Toronto, andVancouver. Publication ceased on 20 December 2019.[20]
French-language:Métro is published in French inMontreal and has been wholly owned by Métro Média since 2018, which licenses the Metro brand. It is distributed throughout Montreal and its suburbs and has a readership of one million.[citation needed] Due to financial difficulties, its last edition was issued on 11 August 2023, and the company has since been declared bankrupt.[21]
Mexico:Publimetro is published in Mexico City, Monterrey, Morelia, Puebla, Mérida, Leon and Querétaro.
United States:Metro is published inPhiladelphia andPuerto Rico and was formerly published inBoston andNew York City. The New York City edition was acquired bySchneps Media (which also acquired the Philadelphia edition ofMetro) and merged the New York City edition ofMetro withAM New York to formAM New York Metro.[22][23]
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