Metro denies it has ceased publishing

Just a month after another free-circulation Philadelphia daily called it quits, the mysterious disappearance of the Metro newspaper this week had some people thinking it had gone out of business as well.

But rumors of the Metro's demise are greatly exaggerated, according to Seabay Capital, which bought the three newspapers published by Metro USA on June 1.

"We decided to take a few days off," said Yggers "Julius" Mortensen, the Seabay chief executive. "I can confirm that we're not closing down."

Mortensen said the newspaper would resume publication tomorrow and return to normal five-day-a-week schedule next week.

Metro employees said the newspaper announced in last Thursday's issue that it was taking a week off to celebrate Independence Day. But the suspension was not mentioned on the newspaper's Web site or on its telephone-answering system, which transferred curious callers to unanswered voice-mail boxes.

The newspaper's disappearance from its green honor boxes occurred only a month after the closure of the Bulletin, a free daily that published for five years using the name of the city's once-dominant daily.

Mortensen said the Metro's decision to suspend daily publication was "quite regular" and was "no reflection" on either the newspaper's health or the poor business climate for print and electronic media.

Metro International S.A., which publishes the Metro newspaper chain worldwide, sold its U.S. holdings to Seabay Media Holdings L.L.C. Seabay was formed and controlled by Pelle Törnberg, the former CEO of Metro International.

Metro USA publishes free newspapers in Philadelphia, New York, and Boston - the Boston publication also suspended publication for the July Fourth holiday. The company claims a combined daily press run of 590,000 copies.