Metro sold 60% of Metro Czech Republic in December 2007 to Mafra Media Group, a German media conglomerate controlled by the publishers of Rheinische Post (Düsseldorf).

Mafra bought the majority of Metro in the Czech Republic and ‘merged’ the paper with its own free daily Metropolitní Expres. Mafra now owns 93.3% of  Metro Czech Republic, that will operated as a franchise from now on.

“The decision not to participate in the capital increase is yet another step in the strategy where Metro aims to focus on emerging markets” according to the Metro press release.

The editioral staff is protesting agianst the closure and has ‘occupied‘ the website of the paper.

City was launched in 2001 in Rome and Milan, and later started local editions in Florence, Bologna, Bari, Naples (2002), Genua, Turin and Verona (2005).

Total circulation of City is 850,000 – making it the largest Italian free daily (together with Metro) after Leggo concentrated its footprint to Rome and Milan. 1.8 million people read City on an average day.

The closure will lower Italian free newspaper circulation to just over 2 million.

In 2008 circulation still was 4.6 million, with 9 different titles published. Since then 24minuti (2009), E Polis (2010) and some local papers closed down while Leggo cut circulation.

Qué! is developing content for video that readers can download by entering the picture on the cover in their smartphone. Also the webpage www.que.es is redesigned.

Qué! – owned by Vocento and local partners – now shares the national Spanish free market with 20 Minutos.

The paper started with 12 editions and a circulation of almost 1 million in January 2005. Six new editions were launched between 2007 and 2009. In 2012 the paper distributes 600,000 copies in ten different editions.

In total Metro expects to win 75,000 to 100,000 readers in the future because of the closure of Urban according to MediaWatch.

Metro does not wanted to take 24timer from the market, but was considering to differentiate between the titles. 24timer could go down in distribution, making it more attractive for smaller advertisers while MetroXpress could increase its print run.

That is why MetroXpress has increased it’s circulation with 25,000 to 200,000 (MediaWatch).

The special issue (can be downloaded from here) contains a selection of the best stories that have been in the paper according to the editors. De Pers will also launch a book with stories from the last 5 years.

De Pers wanted to be the largest free newspaper in the Netherlands when it was launched in 2007. It never was (in the first year it had a circulation of 480,000), but its ambitions were substantial.

Print run was expected to grow to one million, while the paper also launched a saturday edition, a financial paper (a test run) and a series of books.

The paper lost millions of Euro’s and cut circulation to 220,000 in 2009. In that year, Marcel Boekhoorn, the owner of De Pers closed a deal with Wegener (Mecom) to print and distribute the paper, and sell advertising for a fixed fee for the next 11 years.

Although the deal was not very profitable for Wegener, De Pers was saved and is now again increasing the circulation to more than 300,000.

De Pers is very different from ‘regular’ free papers. It relies much less on wire copy and tries to build its own agenda with original news.

The paper will not increase the print run of 760,000 but reallocate 15 to 20% of the copies to new markets. The number of editions will go from 15 to 35 according to new director Edouard Boccon-Gibod in La Tribune.

In 2012 the paper expects a two-digit growth, partly because of synergies with TF1. There are, however, no plans to integrate editorial departments. There are now 115 people working for Metro, 43 of them journalists.

Boccon-Gibod accused former (majority) owner Metro International of not investing enough in the paper. One of the results is that Metro is far lagging behind 20 Minutes when it comes to visitors for the website.

La Tribune revealed also that Bolloré made an offer for the shares of Metro last summer. Martin Bouygues, owner of the Bouygues company that controls TF1, however, did not want his rival and enemy Vincent Bolloré to get hold of Metro. TF1 as minority shareholder had the first rights to buy the remaining stock and matched Bolloré’s offer.

Also 20 Minutes has announced to expand their market, although this will be accompanied by increasing the circulation.

In France total circulation increased from 2.3 million in 2009 to 2.6 million in 2010 and to 3.2 million in 2011.

In March, Metro France will also move to a smaller format and introduce a more colorful design. The smaller format resembles that of competitors 20 Minutes and Direct Matin. Also the Metro editions in the Czech Republic and Hungary use the smaller (half-Berliner) format.

For the last five years, journalists from both publications were responsible for four pages in every issue of Direct Matin.

From now on, the whole paper (24 pages) will be made by the own staff of Direct Matin. There are 60 journalists working for the paper. (L’Express)

Traditional newspaper boxes, with the main news of the day displayed on the front, containing the mother of all free newspapers: Metro Stockholm.

Metro started in Stockholm on February 13 1995 with a circulation of 200,000 copies. In 1998 it expanded to Gothenburg, a year later to Malmö. In 2004 a national edition was introduced.

Circulation in 2012 is more than 600,000. The Swedish edition is still one of the most profitable editions for Metro International.

Metro survived national competitors City (Bonnier 2002-2008) and Punkt.SE (Schibsted, 2006-2008). In 2012 there are also local free dailies in Malmö, Lund, Upsala, Norrköping, Kristianstad, Landskrona and Helsingborg. Their total circulation is 120,000.

The Arlanda Express train station in central Stockholm had several boxes filled with Dagens Industri, the Swedish financial paper. Normally the paper sells for 30 Kronen (€3.40).

Giving papers away is not limited to Dagens Industri of course. In the hotel I could choose from all Swedish papers (including Dagens Industri) but also the Financial Times was available. Airports are also great places for getting (paid) newspapers for free.

At my university  library I often pick up a free copy of the Wall Street Journal.

In fact, three European titles are responsible for almost all of these editions closed: Adevarul de Seara, ADN and Leggo.

Adevarul de Seara, a Romanian free daily with no less than 39 editions, launched between 2008 and 2010 closed down wihin three years, some editions did not even last one year.

ADN, the third national free daily in Spain closed with 9 editions after 5 years of making losses.

Leggo, the leading Italian free daily closed all but the Rome and Milan editions (10 in total) in order to cut costs.

Other closures in 2011 concern Macedonia (2 papers), and 5 local papers in US, Canada and Mexico.

Worldwide circulation of free dailies increased in 2011, because of new launches and increases circulation of other titels.