This newspaper was founded in 1889 under the title Päivälehti. It was banned in 1904 after a leading article indirectly welcomed the murder of the Russian governor general. Just four days after it was closed down the paper went into circulation again under its new name, published by the Sanoma group which currently dominates the Finnish media market. It is by far the country's most widely read paper. Since 2012 only five articles per week can be read for free online. For the first time in 25 years, Helsingin Sanomat was able to increase its overall circulation in 2017. The steadily falling print subscriptions were offset by the rapid increase in online subscriptions.