From today, all of the Guardian's online journalism - including its UK, US and Australia digital editions and its mobile website - will be accessible from the same URL, offering global audiences a single destination for the Guardian wherever they are around the globe and across all devices.
Alan Rusbridger (pictured), editor-in-chief, Guardian News & Media said: "At the Guardian, we've long been at the forefront of digital innovation. Our first digital presence was unveiled to the world in 1995 and within four years we'd launched our full website, Guardian Unlimited, which became guardian.co.uk in 2008.
"Back in May we announced that we had acquired www.theguardian.com, and I'm delighted that we have now officially moved to our new home, beginning the next chapter of our digital journey.
"Our agenda-setting NSA revelations in recent months - resulting in record web traffic and generating more hits from the US than the UK for the first time - proves that we are a truly global media brand, and that there is a worldwide appetite and market for our unique combination of open journalism, digital storytelling and investigative excellence."
Andrew Miller, CEO, Guardian Media Group, said: "This is a time of extraordinary innovation, growth and opportunity for the Guardian and we are fully embracing a digital future. With offices in London, New York City and Sydney, our new global domain brings together a global audience across all time zones, providing them with a 24/7 source of news and engagement.
"This in turn will open up enormous commercial possibilities for us in markets around the world, enabling us to offer our partners and advertisers increased access to our growing global audience."
According to the latest comScore numbers, the Guardian website saw 40.5 million unique visitors in June 2013.
The Guardian opened its US office in 2011, along with a US homepage. The US office now has a total of 57 employees, 29 of them editorial staff. Guardian US traffic is up nearly 55% year-on-year, with US traffic now representing a third of the Guardian's total digital audience.
The Guardian continued its global expansion in May this year by launching a new digital edition in Australia, offering a similarly fresh perspective on local and world news. Internal figures show that Guardian Australia received nearly 20 million page views across the site in June 2013 – up 10% month on month and 57% year on year.
All global websites will now be accessible via www.theguardian.com, and users will automatically see the relevant geographical homepage according to their location. Users will still be able to manually switch between different global editions.
The Guardian's responsive mobile site is also now accessible via www.theguardian.com.
