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Metro Appointments City A.M.

Metro's head of digital content Martin Ashplant hired by London rival City A.M.

By Angela Haggerty, Reporter

March 3, 2014 | 2 min read

London business freesheet City A.M. has hired Metro’s head of digital content, Martin Ashplant, as its digital and social media director as it kicks off digital expansion plans.

Appointment: Martin Ashplant has joined City A.M.

At Metro, Ashplant oversaw the paper’s move to a fully responsive site in December 2012, which now has 27.5 million monthly unique visitors, growth of 350 per cent in the last year. City A.M. and Metro are two of London’s main freesheet papers, the other being the London Evening Standard.

Jen Torpe, chief executive of City A.M., said: “While we remain committed to growing our print business and are continuing to grow our readership, we see a similar gap in the digital market for a business news website as we have succeeded in serving in print over the last eight years.”

Allister Heath, editor at City A.M., added: “I’m delighted that Martin has come on board, and I’m very excited by our digital plans.

“The opportunity for a fresh take on business news online is huge in the UK. The success of sites like Business Insider in the US shows what can be done.”

The paper, which is distributed between London commuter locations, offices and the home counties, will follow up the appointment with “a succession of hires in the coming months”.

Metro Appointments City A.M.

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