By: (AP) The New York Times Co. agreed to purchase a 49 percent stake in a free Boston daily newspaper for $16.5 million, the company announced today.
The deal with Metro USA "furthers our long-term strategy of serving our audiences in Boston," said Janet Robinson, president and chief executive officer of The New York Times Co.
The New York Times already owns The Boston Globe and The Worcester Telegram & Gazette.
Metro Boston has attracted a young, active, well-educated audience of 300,000 daily readers with limited overlap among the approximately 1.3 million people that read The Boston Globe each weekday, the companies said.
Metro Boston debuted in 2001 and in 2004 generated approximately $10 million in revenue, according to a joint news release.
Metro USA will continue to control and manage Metro Boston, though New York Times executives will join its board of directors, the companies said. No changes are planned in Metro's editorial format, and the Globe newsroom will not be involved in the editing of the paper, they said.
Metro USA is a division of Metro International, a leader in free daily newspapers that currently publishes 42 newspaper editions in 16 languages, the companies said. Metro International is based in Europe.
The New York Times joins the Washington Post Co. and The Tribune Co. in publishing free newspapers to reach readers as paid newspaper circulation declines.
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