''Metro'' was a

free daily newspaper Free newspapers are distributed free of charge, often in central places in cities and towns, on public transport, with other newspapers, or separately door-to-door. The revenues of such newspapers are based on advertising. They are published at d ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. It was printed in four editions:

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

Skåne Scania, also known by its native name of Skåne (, ), is the southernmost of the historical provinces (''landskap'') of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous with Skåne C ...

and National, which were distributed in 67 towns and cities throughout the country. The paper was the first European free paper. On 8 August 2019, its cancellation was announced.

History and profile

''Metro Stockholm'' was the first version. The paper was launched on 13 February 1995 and distributed in the

Stockholm Metro The Stockholm metro ( sv, Stockholms tunnelbana) is a rapid transit system in Stockholm, Sweden. The first line opened in 1950, and today the system has 100 stations in use, of which 47 are underground and 53 above ground. There are three colou ...

. Its owner and founding company is

Modern Times Group Modern may refer to: History *Modern history ** Early Modern period ** Late Modern period *** 18th century *** 19th century *** 20th century ** Contemporary history * Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century Philosoph ...

(MTG), a subsidiary of the Swedish conglomerate Kinnevik. The paper is published in

tabloid format A tabloid is a newspaper with a compact page size smaller than broadsheet. There is no standard size for this newspaper format. Etymology The word ''tabloid'' comes from the name given by the London-based pharmaceutical company Burroughs Wel ...

Metro International Metro International is a Swedish global media company based in Luxembourg that publishes the ''Metro'' newspapers. Metro International's advertising sales have grown at a compound annual growth rate of 41 percent since launch of the first news ...

. 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 Schibsted Media Group is an international media group. The company has its headquarters in Oslo, Norway, and is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. The CEO is Kristin Skogen Lund. In 2019, Schibsted spun off the majority of their online marketplac ...

-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''. In the period of 2001-2002 ''Metro'' sold 384,000 copies. 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, the paper'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.

Comics

Both the long-featured

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

Elvis Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

'', by

Tony Cronstam Tony Cronstam (born 6 August 1969, Växjö) is a Swedish cartoonist. An illustrator of role-playing games for Target Games during the 1980s, he made his debut as a cartoonist with the future-based strip ''Provet'' (''The Test'') in '' Svenska Se ...

,Metro - Serier
and the earlier

Rocky ''Rocky'' is a 1976 American sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the first installment in the ''Rocky'' franchise and stars Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, and Burgess M ...

, by

Martin Kellerman Martin Kellerman (born 1973 in Växjö) is a Swedish cartoonist, known for the comic strip ''Rocky''. He was influenced by American and Swedish underground cartoonists such as Peter Bagge, Max Andersson, Robert Crumb, Harvey Pekar, Joe Matt an ...

, were first published in ''Metro Stockholm''.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Metro 1995 establishments in Sweden 2019 disestablishments in Sweden Free daily newspapers Daily newspapers published in Sweden Defunct newspapers published in Sweden Newspapers published in Stockholm Publications established in 1995 Publications disestablished in 2019 Swedish-language newspapers