The UK newspaper The Independent, which was founded in 1986, announced Friday that it will cease its printed editions.
The paper, which since its foundation was printed daily with a special Sunday edition, faced dwindling circulation numbers, with only roughly 58,000 in 2015. For comparison’s sake, The Sun had circulation numbers of 1.8 million, while The Guardian had 174,000.
The last print edition of The Independent will run Saturday, March 26, while the last Independent on Sunday will run on Sunday, March 20. Moving forward, it will be digital-only, and, according to the BBC, the paper will likely be sold to Johnston Press, which owns a startling number of brands.
ESI Media, which currently owns The Independent, made the foreboding statement that there would be”some redundancies among editorial employees,” so the future is sure to be tumultuous for the paper’s employees.