Media Lifeline: Metro International

other cities around Europe - and beyond.

2000: Prague was the first international expansion stepping stone, when
it launched in 1997. Then, in 1998, editions were rolled out in Budapest
and Gothenburg; in 1999, Helsinki, the central Dutch conurbation and
Malmo were added; in 2000, the roll-out reached Rome, Milan, Warsaw and
Athens, and it even crossed the Atlantic, too, with editions in
Philadelphia, Toronto and Santiago, Chile.

2005: As the roll-out continues under the chief executive Pelle
Tornberg, and the company heads towards its target of 70 editions in
more than 100 cities in more than 20 countries, Metro International
gradually claws its way to profitability.

2006: Profitability across a calendar year at last, although
quarter-by-quarter the picture still remains volatile. But, for the year
leading up to 31 December 2006, Metro International delivers an
operating profit of $16.9 million. The market-by-market picture,
though, shows performance is patchy, and there is a threat of cuts or
closure at several of the group's titles.

2007: Metro International hires Per Mikael Jensen, a former global Metro
editor-in-chief, as its new chief executive, succeeding Tornberg, who
has retired. But the new boss faces a tough start. Interim results
reveal a third-quarter loss of $18.2 million.

Fast forward ...

2009: Profits continue to be hard won despite cost-cutting programmes
and vigorous marketing initiatives. It has to face the fact that print
ad revenues are continuing to decline across the globe, while new
freesheets, both magazines and newspapers, continue to enter the market.
Jensen now enters talks with the incoming News Corp chief executive,
James Murdoch.