Founding A press statement released on the website of
The Independent on 19 October 2010 announced the launch of the
i. Also in October 2010, Independent Print Limited launched an advertising campaign to promote the new publication. The first issue of the
i went on sale for 20p on 26 October 2010, along with a new-look version of
The Independent. At the start of September 2017, the price rose once again, to 60p for the weekday edition and 80p for the relaunched
i weekend beginning later that month. The paper cited the rising cost of materials needed to print the paper and the increasingly difficult environment in which print journalism found itself.
2016–2018 On 11 February 2016, it was revealed that regional publisher
Johnston Press, which owned
The Yorkshire Post and
The Scotsman, were in the advanced stages of talks to buy the
i for around £24 million. The acquisition was completed before
The Independent became a digital-only publication, and a "significant number" of staff joined the team from
The Independent. The new editorial team was announced in April 2016. On 30 September 2017, a new, redesigned, version of the weekend edition of the
i went on sale, costing 80p. This relaunch of the weekend paper saw circulation rise by around 30,000, to around 290,000 of the first edition of the redesigned paper being sold. By August 2018, the weekend edition had become the strongest day of trading for the
i. In December 2017, the owners of the
i, Johnston Press, announced the newspaper was bringing in a monthly profit of around £1 million. They stated that this was the result of: "Johnston Press management's strategy of investing in improved content under editor
Olly Duff's clear leadership, increased brand awareness, distribution, and advertiser solutions, while delivering efficiencies". A February 2018 trading update from parent company
Johnston Press stated that the paper held a 20% market share of the 'Quality' weekday market. The
i website,
inews.co.uk, was reported to attract around two million unique viewers at the start of 2018;
2018 In November 2018, ownership of the
i alongside the other assets of Johnston Press were transferred in a pre-packaged administration deal to JPIMedia, a company set up by the bondholders of Johnston Press, after several attempts to restructure the debt or sell the business were unsuccessful. On 29 November 2019, it was announced that JPIMedia had sold the
i newspaper and website to the
Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT), which owns the
Mail on Sunday and
MailOnline.
Lord Jonathan Harmsworth of Rothermere, the chair of DMGT, said that the paper would maintain its politically independent editorial style. In December 2021, DMGT announced that both
i and the DMGT-owned
New Scientist magazine would be moved to a new division of the company, to be called Harmsworth Media. In December 2024, the
i was renamed
The i Paper. ==Format==