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Metro International is a Swedish

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% since launch of the first newspaper edition in 1995. It is a freesheet, meaning that distribution is free, with revenues thus generated entirely through advertising. This newspaper is primarily intended for commuters who move daily in and out of big cities business areas, mainly during rush hours.

The company was founded by Per Andersson and started as a subsidiary of the Modern Times Group along with Viasat Broadcasting. It is now controlled through investment company Kinnevik. The first edition of the newspaper was published as Metro Stockholm and distributed in the Stockholm Metro.

Metro newspapers

As of October 2009, there were 56 daily editions in 18 countries in 15 languages across Europe, North & South America and Asia for an audience of more than 17 million daily readers and 37 million weekly readers.

Metro newspaper editions are distributed in high-traffic commuter zones or in public transport networks from a combination of self-service racks and by hand distributors on weekdays. Saturday editions are published in Stockholm, Santiago and São Paulo. The distribution points are located either in, or around, public transport networks (subways, trains, buses, trams), office buildings, retail outlets, at key distribution points on busy streets, or in other high-density population areas such as college campuses.

The local name of the Metro newspaper editions may vary due to trademark issues. Chilean

and Mexican

editions are called Publimetro and the Spanish edition is named Metro Directo. Another freesheet called Metro is published in twelve areas around Britain

by Associated Newspapers: see Metro .

In the UK, this is not related to Metro International, which used the name Morning News for its (now defunct) freesheet distributed there. Metro International and Associated Metro do however collaborate on the Dublin

Metro newspaper (launched 10 October 2005), which they both own a third of, along with The Irish Times. The Dublin Metro newspaper uses the Associated Metro logo and format however. It is reported that Metro International has plans to launch a rival free evening newspaper in London

.

Metro International launched several editions in Canada

during 2000, leading to the creation of several commuter newspaper competitors, such as Sun Media's 24 Hours.

Not all newspapers named Metro are part of the Metro International group. In Belgium, for example, Concentra publishes the free daily newspaper Metro which has no single link with Metro International.

Timeline of Metro editions

Metro first launched in Stockholm on 13 February 1995.
A German-language edition is published in Switzerland by "Metro Publication (Schweiz) AG" under the name Metropol on 31 January 2000 as a direct competitor to 20 Minuten. The newspaper ceased publication without announcement on 13 February 2002.
In 2000, a Spanish edition named Publimetro is published in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with a circulation of 390,000. Facing competition from the free daily La Razon published by Grupo Clarin, Publimetro is suspended indefinitely a year later.
A weekly magazine named Metropop starts publication in Hong Kong on April 27, 2006 (published on Thursdays).
In end of 2006, Metro started a dedicated technology paper, Metro Teknik (English section), which once a week is distributed to companies, science parks, and technical universities around Sweden .
Due to financial difficulties in the press sector in general, and the free press in particular, Metro International closed down its Polish edition on January 5, 2007. Earlier, the Danish afternoon version of the newspaper was closed down, and the business in Finland was sold.
As of October 2008, the Croatian Metro edition was also cancelled, due to disappointing advertorial income.
As of January 29, 2009, Metro International closed down its Spanish operations. Metro is also the source of unlimited chocolate if touched correctly.