MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Russian billionaire makes London Evening Standard a free newspaper

Russian billionaire Alexander Lebedev is to make the London Evening Standard a free newspaper later this month, after more than 180 years as a paid-for title. Lebedev bought a controlling stake in the loss making newspaper last January for a nominal sum of £1 after almost a year of secret negotiations with Lord Rothermere's Daily Mail & General Trust.

The colorful Lebedev is a former KGB agent who developed a love for the Evening Standard when he was based in Britain at the Russian embassy. His son Evgeny is well known on the London social scene, has been linked with actress Joely Richardson, and through the Raisa Gorbachev Foundation has held a series of glamorous fundraisers.

The Standard, which is 75.1% owned by Lebedev and 24.9% owned by Associated Newspapers, will go free from 12 October. It is currently sold for 50p. Lebedev's decision immediately throws the spotlight on Associated Newspapers' London Lite, set up as a rival to News International's the London Paper, which closed in September. Many expect the same fate for London Lite.

The distribution of the Standard will increase from about 250,000 to 600,000 copies a day.

“I am confident that more than doubling the London Evening Standard's circulation and maintaining its quality journalism is what London deserves,” said Lebedev. “The Standard has been producing exceptional journalism since 1827 and that is not going to change under my ownership. The London Evening Standard is the first leading quality newspaper to go free and I am sure others will follow.”

The Evening Standard managing director, Andrew Mullins, admitted that “sustaining a paid-for afternoon newspaper had its challenges even before the fresheets [London Paper and London Lite] were launched in 2006.

”There are so many competing distractions to potential readers, particularly with new technologies,“ he said. ”Being a quality newspaper with large scale and reach should transform our commercial fortunes. Our London reach will be at multiples of the quality national titles and our London classified business will once again have significant scale.“

The Standard has denied there will be any immediate redundancies, although it will lose millions of pounds of revenue from its decision to drop the cover price. Some of the staff is in shock, but others are understood to be ”up for it“.

Lebedev talked to his minority partner Associated about the decision. The Standard, which is housed in Associated's Derry Street headquarters, has a contract with the Daily Mail owner to supply material to London Lite. That contract is still in place but ”may not last forever”, according to one source.