According to a statement from the director general of “Le Jeudi” publisher Editpress, Jean-Lou Siweck, released on Tuesday evening, the decision to shut down the paper was taken by the company’s board of directors earlier that day.

Siweck wrote that the decision “follows the fundamental changes facing the press with the advent of the internet.” He explained that advertising revenues, which make up the mainstay of income, had shifted to the digital sphere, specifically social media and internet giants.

“Unfortunately, “Le Jeudi” did not succeed in offsetting the decline in these revenues with an increase in reader subscription revenues.”

The newspaper, which was founded in 1997, had advertising revenues totaling €487,301 in 2016 according to Mediaxim. It also received €333,072 in state aid. In 2019, “Le Jeudi” had 26,700 readers, equivalent to 5.1% of the population, according to the TNS Ilres Plurimedia 2019 survey.

The management of Editpress said it would enter discussions with the employee delegation and representative union. Around 13 people work for the title, according to its website. Editpress also publishes daily newspaper “Tageblatt”, and holds stakes in the publishing companies of newspapers “Le Quotidien” and “l’Essentiel”, as well as the weekly magazine “Revue”, among others.