The sudden death of publisher Martha Blackburn in the summer of 1992, due to a heart attack after water skiing on Lake Huron, set the stage for the eventual sale of the family owned newspaper.

In 1997 the Blackburn family sold the newspaper to Sun Media Corporation, with new, London-born publisher John Paton introducing a Sunday edition.

However, in September 2007, the move was suspended to allow the Free Press to present a business case for the printing department and staff's retention.

The Free Press has one of the few printing presses in southern Ontario and it prints several papers for Sun Media newspapers in the area, including the Chatham Daily News, the Sarnia Observer, the Simcoe Reformer, the St. Thomas Times-Journal, the Stratford Beacon Herald, the Woodstock Sentinel-Review and the Londoner, along with the Free Press.

The London Free Press has seen like most Canadian daily newspapers a decline in circulation.