Torstar shutters subscription-based business websites, affecting 15 employees

TORONTO – Media company Torstar Corp. (TSX:TS.B) is ending a short-lived venture into small business media coverage, with the closure of two paywalled websites.

The publisher of the Toronto Star and several other dailies notified staff at YourMississaugaBiz and YourHamiltonBiz that both sites would cease operations effective immediately.

About 15 employees are affected by the decision, said Bob Hepburn, a spokesman for the media company.

“It’s a business decision based on the economic conditions,” he said in a phone interview.

The YourMississaugaBiz website launched last year while YourHamiltonBiz began operating in January.

Both went behind a paywall earlier this year, and readers could subscribe to each website for about $30 per month.

The media company plans to put the Toronto Star’s website behind a paywall before the end of the summer.

Torstar holds an investment in The Canadian Press as part of a joint agreement with the parent companies of the Globe and Mail and Montreal La Presse.