The Philadelphia Journal was a tabloid published from December 5, 1977 until December 15, 1981; barely a month after the Journal's demise, the Philadelphia Bulletin

Philadelphia Bulletin

For the 2004 resurrection of the Bulletin, see The Bulletin .The Philadelphia Bulletin was a daily evening newspaper published from 1847 to 1982 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was the largest circulation newspaper in Philadelphia for 76 years and was once the largest evening newspaper in the...

 also ceased publication, leaving the city with only one newspaper owner and two titles—The Philadelphia Inquirer

The Philadelphia Inquirer

The Philadelphia Inquirer is a morning daily newspaper that serves the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, metropolitan area of the United States. The newspaper was founded by John R. Walker and John Norvell in June 1829 as The Pennsylvania Inquirer and is the third-oldest surviving daily newspaper in the...

 and the Philadelphia Daily News

Philadelphia Daily News

The Philadelphia Daily News is a tabloid newspaper that serves Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The newspaper is owned by Philadelphia Media Holdings which also owns Philadelphia's other major newspaper The Philadelphia Inquirer. The Daily News began publishing on March 31, 1925, under...

.

According to an obituary for owner Pierre Peladeau

Pierre Péladeau

Pierre Péladeau, was a French-Canadian businessman. He was the founder of Quebecor Inc., a Canadian media company centered in the province of Quebec.-Biography:...

 in the New York Times

The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

, the venture lost $14 million. A United Press International

United Press International

United Press International is a once-major international news agency, whose newswires, photo, news film and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines and radio and television stations for most of the twentieth century...

 article, published when the tabloid ceased publication, cited its circulation at that time as 105,000. Jacques Beauchamp was the initial editor and said that the paper devoted 25-26 pages in each edition to sports; the paper typically ran to about 60 pages total.

According to the Associated Press

Associated Press

The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...

 wire service

News agency

A news agency is an organization of journalists established to supply news reports to news organizations: newspapers, magazines, and radio and television broadcasters. Such an agency may also be referred to as a wire service, newswire or news service.-History:The oldest news agency is Agence...

, the end came when unions rejected management's demand to save $3 million annually by laying off 43 of the 157 employees and wage concessions. Quebecor, the paper's owner, intended to convert the tabloid to an all-sports format if the savings were realized.

Originally, Peledeau told Time Magazine

Time (magazine)

Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...

he hoped to expand his sensationalist, sports-oriented paper to other cities, such as Atlanta, Boston, Detroit and Los Angeles but none of this came about.

Sources

http://www.nytimes.com/1981/12/18/us/philadelphia-journal-dead-its-owner-says.html

http://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/27/business/pierre-peladeau-72-leading-quebec-newspaper-publisher.html

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,945851,00.html

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1291&dat=19811216&id=O_kPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=eI0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=3419,3505610

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=886&dat=19780421&id=FR0LAAAAIBAJ&sjid=RlADAAAAIBAJ&pg=5832,314205