Local commuter paper shuts down
BostonNow, a free daily newspaper aimed at area commuters for the past year, will cease publication, its top executive said today.
Russel Pergament, chief executive of the commuter paper, said he was notified late last week that its foreign investor, the Baugur Group of Iceland, was pulling the plug. He blamed the move on financial problems in Iceland, not on the troubled US newspaper industry.
"Economic conditions in Iceland have become catastrophic," Pergament said, citing interest rates of 15.5 percent, an inflation rate of 8.7 percent, and a 20 percent decline of the nation's currency, the krona, against the dollar. "This paper is on track and looks good. We're proud of what we've done, but you need more money to run a newspaper."
The shutdown will idle about 50 full-time employees of BostonNow and about 100 street hawkers who distributed the paper at Boston area subway and rail stations on weekdays, Pergament said. He said he was organizing job fairs for employees affected.
BostonNow, which launched on April 17 of last year, listed its most recent circulation as 119,000. It competed with another five-day-a-week commuter paper, Metro Boston. The New York Times Co., corporate parent of the Boston Globe, owns 49 percent of Metro Boston.
(By Robert Weisman, Globe staff)
