Philadelphia Bulletin folds Friday

The Bulletin, once Philadelphia's most successful newspaper, will fold on Friday after more than 134 years.

The Charter Company, the Florida-based owners of the paper, announced Jan. 6 that the Bulletin would fold unless a buyer was found.

Once the most-read newspaper in Philadelphia, the newspaper lost more than $ 23 million in the 18 months that ended last June. Its circulation recently dropped below 400,000.

Charter threatened to close the newspaper last August unless unions accepted accepted the concessions in a last-minute move.

The Philadelphia Journal folded less than six weeks ago, leaving the city with two major dailies. The Bulletin collapse is the latest in a series of failures by afternoon newspapers, among them the New York Daily News' Tonight edition and the Washington Star. The phenomenon is linked to competition from television news and suburban newspapers.