Shanghai's local newspaper, the Shanghai Evening Post, will stop publishing on Jan 1, multiple sources reported.

Qiu Xin, Party chief of Shanghai United Media Group, with which the paper is affiliated, announced the decision on Dec 23.

SUMG was established in October after two media groups — one of which owned the paper — merged. The company publishes eight newspapers, including six dailies.

The Evening Post has had to compete against another SUMG-owned paper, the Xinmin Evening News, for an audience and advertising. SUMG decided to shut down the Evening Post because of its smaller circulation, people.com.cn reported.

According to the report, more than 200 employees of the Evening Post need to compete for about 140 new jobs within SUMG, and some of the employees will have a hard time finding new jobs.

Meanwhile, SUMG also announced it plans to recruit employees for its online media platform.

The paper's shutdown reflects traditional print media's effort to invest more resources and manpower in new-media outlets, experts said.