The English-language Standard, a business daily in Hong Kong, will go free beginning Monday.

According to its publisher, Sing Tao News Corp., the move to drop costs for readers is a push to compete with the paper's rival, the South China Morning Post, and to acquire more readers. The free publication will be distributed at over 80 spots, including schools, airports, hotels, and business districts throughout Hong Kong.

Earlier this year, Hong Kong Exchanges changed a policy for companies which had required them to announce their initial public offerings in newspapers. They can now make the announcements online, which many believe greatly impacted newspaper companies, since revenue from these public companies shrunk sharply.

According to Charles Ho Tsu-kwok, chairman of Sing Tao News Corp, the announcement greatly impacted the Standard, since many newspaper companies relied heavily on that revenue source.

The Standard announced the change on its front page Tuesday.