A Russian tycoon has bought two British national newspapers and a website -- for just one pound ( about $1.49), it was announced on Thursday.

Billionaire Alexander Lebedev bought The Independent, its sister title The Independent on Sunday and their associated website for less than it would cost to buy copies of the two papers.

Both newspapers, currently owned by Independent News and Media (INM), made a loss of 12.4 million pounds (about $18 million) over 2009.

Lebedev is likely to become owner in May, possibly after the probable date of the general election on May 6.

As part of the transaction, INM, an Irish company, will pay new owner Independent Print Limited (IPL) 9.25 million pounds (about $13.5 million) to fund IPL assuming all future trading obligations. Existing staff will transfer to IPL.

Gavin O'Reilly, group chief executive officer of INM, said: " This is a most satisfactory and positive outcome for the titles, their staff and for shareholders."

"After our successful refinancing in late 2009, this transaction marks an important milestone in the repositioning of our Group and will allow INM to focus solely on its assets in Ireland, Northern Ireland, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. "

"I believe that the Lebedevs will be progressive and supportive owners of the Independent titles which have played such an important role in British public life for nearly 25 years."

The Independent was founded in 1986 by three journalists, with the advertising slogan "It is, are you?".

Lebedev, who is part-owner of an independent newspaper in Russia, last year bought the London Evening Standard, at the time London's only paid-for evening newspaper.

The Standard had been struggling financially against two free-distribution evening newspapers aimed at the large commuter market in London, and found itself under severe strain as the financial crisis took away valuable display advertising for jobs, and the Internet hit its formerly lucrative classified adverts.

The then owner, The Daily Mail and General Trust which is owned by Lord Rothermere, sold 75 percent of the Standard to Lebedev in January 2009, for one pound. In the autumn of 2009 the paper became a free distribution paper.

The struggles of the Independent group and of the Standard are just two symptoms of huge changes in the shape of print media in Britain, wrought by the global financial crisis and the rise of the Internet.

For example, on a national level only one daily newspaper, The Star, saw its circulation rise over the past year, while newspapers like The Times saw a decline of nearly 17 percent.

This kind of decline has had quick and dire consequences. Over the past year, Trinity Mirror, a publisher of national and regional titles, has closed 30 papers and laid off 1,700 workers.

In regional newspapers, the decline has been harsh and cutbacks hard too. The only daily newspaper left in England's second city is The Birmingham Mail, which ended evening printing last year and jumped into the morning slot of its stablemate The Birmingham Post which is now a weekly.

In the major city of Manchester, in the north of England, the once-largest selling evening paper in the country, The Manchester Evening News, has been sold and is being given away on some days, while its stable of weekly newspapers has seen all the regional offices shut to save money.

(Xinhua News Agency March 26, 2010)