Local Sweden Newspaper is an English-language online news portal localised for Sweden, Germany, France, Switzerland and Norway. Each site, while alike in appearance, has separate editorial teams, each focused on its respective market.

Coverage is purely domestic in each country, and includes current events, politics, business, sports and culture, as well as analysis and opinion. There are also guides to local society aimed at English-speaking foreigners and a who’s who of local celebrities. The company also owns expat discussion forums Toytown Germany and English Forum (in Switzerland).

The original Swedish edition began in 2004. The German edition was launched in 2008 and Swiss edition in 2011. The sites had a combined readership of a million unique visitors per month in January 2008.

The Local’s founders are Managing Director Paul Rapacioli, formerly a director of reed.co.uk and Managing Editor James Savage, formerly a radio journalist and PR consultant.Shareholders include the 6th AP Fund and IQube.[6] The Swedish version is edited by American David Landes. The German edition is edited by Marc Young, another American who previously worked at the English versions of Der Spiegel and Deutsche Welle.

The Local’s Swedish edition was nominated in 2009 as Swedish Digital Newspaper of the Year (‘Årets Dagstidning Digitala Medier’), as part of media magazine Medievärlden’s annual newspaper awards.

In January 2010 The Local acquired thelocal.com from First Quench Retailing, a UK alcohol retailer which went into administration at the end of 2009.