TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The final printed edition of the Apple Daily will go on sale Monday (May 17), with only an online version available from the following day, the paper announced Friday (May 14).

The publisher noted in a statement that the colorful tabloid was launched in Taiwan on May 2, 2003, in the middle of the SARS epidemic. It will leave the nation's shelves during an uptick in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Its sister publication, Next Magazine, ceased issuing printed editions in March 2018 and went offline in February 2020. Meanwhile, the group’s founder, clothing magnate Jimmy Lai (黎智英), has been targeted by the Hong Kong government due to his outspoken support for democracy.

Apple Daily is famed for its large color photos and its tabloid approach to news, sometimes earning the ire of entertainers and politicians over its paparazzi tactics. In its farewell note, the paper remarked how corrupt officials would fear the appearance of a new edition of the Apple Daily on newsstands.

Each day, the printed paper found 100,000 buyers. The change to a purely online format will cost 326 jobs out of a total of 801, cable station TVBS reported.

Changing reading habits and the “monopoly position” of digital platforms like Facebook and Google took a big bite out of the Apple Daily's ad revenues, the paper said. In conclusion, it said the fight to defend freedom of the press would continue unabated online.