PETALING JAYA (Oct 25): Malay Mail is ceasing its print edition on Dec 1 to turn fully digital.

The move, theedgemarkets.com has learnt, will result in the publication retrenching about 50 of its current 165-strong work force, to cut about one third of its staff costs.

In a brief online report today, the newspaper, which was first published on Dec 1, 1896, said the publication will cease its print edition as it turns 122 years old.

"It is a change of business direction. We are going into the full gambit of the digital business from content to marketing.

"The old way of doing the newspaper business of advertising subsidising the circulation, editorial and printing costs is no longer viable," Malay Mail editor-in-chief Datuk Wong Sai Wan was quoted as saying during a town hall meeting with staff today.