However Associated, which is reported to be preparing a £500m counterbid to block the £260m deal struck by the Barclay brothers for Lord Conrad Black's newspapers, has denied that the decision has anything to do with the battle.
Stephen Miron, managing director of The Mail on Sunday, said that the decision was taken purely on commercial grounds.
"We decided against continuing with the deal because of the costs associated with distribution," he said. He added that the company still works with The Business in Dublin.
The Business, which is overseen by publisher and editor-in-chief Andrew Neil, was unavailable for comment.
The deal was only signed with Associated in September and the paper was distributed free with The Mail on Sunday in parts of London and with the Barclays' Scotland on Sunday north of the border.
Neil claimed that the deal enabled the newspaper to gain an audited circulation of 400,000, something it would never achieve alone even if it launched a multimillion-pound advertising campaign. The decision to end the agreement is bound to create difficulties for the paper. In the latest ABCs, the paper had a circulation of 287,299 compared with the Mail on Sunday's 2,413,707.
The deal will end in April.
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