Type Daily newspaper Owner(s) Schibsted ASA Political alignment None | Format Tabloid Editor Gard Steiro | |
Founded 1945; 72 years ago (1945) | ||
Verdens Gang ("The course of the world"), generally known under the abbreviation VG, is a Norwegian tabloid newspaper. In 2015, circulation numbers stood at 112,716, having declined from a peak circulation of 390,510 in 2002. VG is nevertheless the most read online newspaper in Norway, with about 1.9 million daily readers.
Contents
Verdens Gang AS is a private company wholly owned by the public company Schibsted ASA. Approximately 30% of Schibsted is owned by English and American investment banks such as Goldman Sachs and Northern Trust.
History and profile
VG was established by members of the resistance movement shortly after the country was liberated from German occupation in 1945. The first issue of the paper was published on 23 June 1945. Christian A. R. Christensen was the first editor-in-chief of VG from its start in 1945 to 1967 when he died.
VG is based in Oslo. The paper is published in tabloid format. The owner is the media conglomerate Schibsted, which also owns Norway’s largest newspaper, Aftenposten, as well as newspapers in Sweden and Estonia and shares in some of Norway’s larger regional newspapers. Schibsted took over the paper following the death of Christensen in 1967. Just before the change in the ownership VG was mostly sold in the Oslo area and had a circulation of 34,000 copies.
The editor-in-chief is Gard Steiro. VG is not affiliated with any political party.
For many years, VG was the largest newspaper in Norway by circulation, which reached a peak of 390,000 in 2002. As its readers moved from the traditional newspaper to internet newspapers, the circulation has collapsed to 112,000 in 2015. VG is now the second largest print newspaper in Norway. It was overtaken by Aftenposten in 2010. The online newspaper vg.no is, however, by far the most visited in Norway, with 1.9 million daily readers.
VG Nett
VG Nett is VG's news site online. It was started in 1995. VG Nett made a net operating profit of 40 percent in 2006, making it an unusually successful online media operation. According to figures from TNG Gallup, it had 1.92 million daily readers in 2015, down from 1.99 million in 2013.
VG's web pages also include a discussion forum, VG Debatt.
Circulation
Numbers from the Norwegian Media Businesses' Association, Mediebedriftenes Landsforening.