FREE distribution evening newspaper thelondonpaper was facing closure last night under proposals announced by Rupert Murdoch's News International.
A 30-day consultation with the title's 60 staff is under way and NI said publication would continue during this time.
The announcement comes after thelondonpaper recorded pre-tax losses of £12.9 million in the year to 29 June, 2008, on a turnove
r of £14.1m.
It follows problems elsewhere in the free paper sector. A free afternoon edition of the Daily Record – available in Edinburgh and Glasgow, and previously in Aberdeen and Dundee – ceased publication last month.
Record PM was handed out to shoppers and commuters, but has been suspended pending a review. An average of almost 13,000 copies were given away each weekday.
London has been subject to a fierce free newspaper war, which put severe pressure on the sale of the paid-for Evening Standard.
James Murdoch, chairman and chief executive Europe and Asia for News Corporation – NI's parent company – said thelondonpaper had made great strides, but its performance had fallen short of expectations.
It launched in September 2006 and had a circulation of 500,348 last month, but Murdoch said NI wanted to concentrate on its main publications, the Sun, the Times, the News of the World and the Sunday Times.
"The strategy at News International over the past 18 months has been to streamline our operations and focus investment on our core titles," he said.
"The team at thelondonpaper has made great strides in a short space of time with innovative design and a fresh approach, but the performance of the business in a difficult free evening newspaper sector has fallen short of expectations.
"We have taken a tough decision that reflects our priorities as a business."
NI began thelondonpaper initially as a rival to the Evening Standard, but Associated Newspapers, its then-publisher, responded by launching its own free sheet, the London Lite, which
uses stories from the Standard and hit the streets days before thelondonpaper.
Earlier this month, News Corporation chairman and chief executive Rupert Murdoch announced plans to charge readers within a year to view the company's newspaper websites.
He said in May that the situation at the Wall Street Journal website – owned by News Corporation and which runs a subscription service – indicated people would be prepared to pay to read newspapers online.
News Corporation reported a £2 billion net loss for the year to the end of June, and Murdoch said the past year had been "the most difficult in recent history".
