Metro Boston gets a new co-owner

Metro International is dumping its 51 percent share in the free daily--which is co-owned by the New York Times Co.--as well as its sister papers in New York and Philadelphia. The buyer, according to the Associated Press: Seabay Media,  a new outfit headed up by Pelle Tornberg, who ran Metro International when a racism scandal rocked the company back in 2004.

The sale follows Metro International's recent shuttering of its operations in Spain; according to a press release from the company, the US and Spanish outfits lost nearly 11 million Euros last year.

Also noteworthy: Metro International's announcement that it will conduct a rights issue aimed at raising over 50 million Euros. That money--if Metro Int'l can get it--will be used, in large part, to repay a 28 million Euro credit facility that came due when the company failed to break even last year. It'll also be used to keep Metro Int'l running; according to a statement from the company, which apparently lacks the cash to keep operating through 2009 as of this moment.