The first iPad-only newspaper, The Daily, will cease to exist as of December 15th. As part of a major restructuring initiative at News Corp, some of The Daily's staff will be moved over to The New York Post, but it's not clear yet how many staff will make that transition. In a statement, The Daily's creator and News Corp. founder Rupert Murdoch said that "our experience was that we could not find a large enough audience quickly enough to convince us the business model was sustainable in the long-term."

This shutdown doesn't come as a major surprise — back in the summer, it was reported that The Daily was "on watch" as an option to help News Corp. cut costs. It sounds like The Daily brand will live on, however, with a new release stating the brand will be used in "other channels." Murdoch's new plan is to "take the very best of what we have learned at The Daily and apply it to all our properties." There's no word yet on whether annual subscribers will receive any partial refunds for their $39.99 annual subscriptions, but the app is still available for purchase in the iTunes Store.

Update: TPM has just obtained and published an internal memo regarding the closing The Daily — the full text is below.