Schibsted (A): Should We Launch "20 Minutes"‪?‬

The executive vice-president of newspapers for Schibsted was about to meet with his colleagues to discuss the company’s plan to release an internally developed free daily newspaper concept called 20 Minutes. Over the past couple of years, Schibsted’s executive team had kept a watchful eye on the free newspaper industry, which was enjoying tremendous popularity. Earlier in the year, Schibsted had launched Avis 1, a free paper with direct delivery to homes in Oslo, Norway. Looking to expand beyond their home country of Norway, Schibsted’s executives had developed a proposal to simultaneously launch 20 Minutes in Zurich, Switzerland, and Cologne, Germany. The executive vice-president of newspapers and his colleagues were scheduled to present this recommendation to Schibsted’s board of directors within a month. They were in the midst of preparing a financial and strategic analysis, since they were certain the board of directors would ask some tough questions. The supplemental case Schibsted (B): Should We Start Up "20 Minutes Cologne" Again?, product #9B07M020 describes the events folllowing.