''Nettavisen'' is a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

online newspaper An online newspaper (or electronic news or electronic news publication) is the online version of a newspaper, either as a stand-alone publication or as the online version of a printed periodical. Going online created more opportunities for newspa ...

, launched in 1996 as the first online-only newspaper in Norway. The current editor is

Gunnar Stavrum Gunnar Stavrum (born 24 October 1961) is a Norway, Norwegian newspaper editor and author. Since 2003 he has been chief editor of the online newspaper ''Nettavisen''. Early years Stavrum was born in Kristiansund, and grew up in Bergen and Kristi ...

. As of 2015 it was one of Norway's most popular news websites.

History

The online newspaper (its literal name in Norwegian) was launched on 1 November 1996, and was founded by Odd Harald Hauge, Stig Eide Sivertsen and Knut Ivar Skeid. In 1999 the newspaper was bought by Spray Sweden, which became part of

Lycos Europe Lycos Europe was a pan-European network of websites, offering services including communication tools, online communities, web search, e-commerce, web hosting, homepage building and Internet access. It was an independent corporation, sharing no co ...

in 2000. In 2000 the founders of ''Nettavisen'' helped launch the (now-defunct) German sister site ''

Netzeitung ''Netzeitung'' was a German online newspaper produced in Berlin from 2000 to 2009. On 4 January 2010 netzeitung.de had been converted into an automated portal displaying contents from nachrichten.de (an online news portal operated by Tomorrow Fo ...

''. In 2002 ''Nettavisen'' was bought by Norway's largest commercial television channel '' TV 2''. Due to millions of

NOK Nok is a village in Jaba Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria. The village is an archeological site. Archaeology The discovery of terracotta figurines at this location caused its name to be used for the Nok culture, of which these ...

in deficits and resulting major staff cuts, on 23 October 2008 the board of ''TV 2'' decided to initiate negotiations with its owners, Egmont and

Amedia Amedia AS is the second largest media company in Norway (the largest is Schibsted and the third largest is Polaris Media). The company is whole or partial owner of 50 local and regional newspaper with online newspapers and printing presses, and ...

, to sell the newspaper. From 2009 ''Nettavisen'' has been owned directly by Egmont and Amedia. The newspaper has been part of the media company Mediehuset Nettavisen since 2008. In 2014 the media company posted record earnings with 39,7 per cent in annual income growth. By the 2010s ''Nettavisen'' turned deficits into major surpluses, making it in the unusual position in 2015 of being able to hire new staff with its new offices in traditional newspaper street

Akersgata Akersgata (1-73E, 2-74) is a street in Oslo, Norway. It contains a number of important buildings such as the Parliament of Norway Building, several government buildings in the Regjeringskvartalet, the Trefoldighetskirken (Trinity Church), and the ...

, when other newspapers continue to be under strong pressure despite millions in

press support Press support is a government subsidy available for newspapers in some countries. The support can either be direct, in terms of money to the newspaper, or indirect, such as lowered or eliminated sales tax. The justification for press support is typ ...

(of which ''Nettavisen'' receives none). ''Nettavisen'' was as of 2015 the second most visited news website in Norway on mobile platforms, and one of the largest overall on digital platforms. It has a weekly readership of 2,6 million in the Norwegian market. According to Stavrum, ''Nettavisen'' is currently the only large national newspaper in Norway considered somewhat

right-of-centre Centre-right politics lean to the right of the political spectrum, but are closer to the centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure and the economy, moving away from the nobility and me ...

. Stavrum himself supports the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

. In 2017 the newspaper launched editions in Polish, Arabic, Russian and Somali. The same year, Amedia purchased full ownership of ''Nettavisen''.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control 1996 establishments in Norway European news websites Newspapers published in Oslo Norwegian-language newspapers Newspapers established in 1996 Somalian diaspora in Norway