AN OXFORD magazine which hoped to raise £500,000 to become owned by its readers smashed its target by 40 per cent to hit £704,000.

New Internationalist magazine, based on the Cowley Road, hit the target on Thursday and staff celebrated at the Fir Tree pub on Iffley Road.

The company will now be owned by the 3,400 investors who bought shares over the month-long fundraising campaign.

Magazine co-director Helen Wallis said the company had been astonished by the international scramble to buy a piece of the left-leaning journal.

She said: "Amazing. On Thursday, April 6, our community share offer campaign ended on £704,000.

"We ran out of metaphors for our communiqués. We’d already ‘climbed the summit’, ‘gone through the roof’, now perhaps we have gone into orbit and are slowly circling the earth.

"Either way, it’s a wonderful view from up here. The incredible support from our new 3,400 co-owners, has taken us a clear 40 per cent in excess of our original £500,000-target and surpassed our greatest expectations.

"Our socially conscious journalism will now reach more people at a time when it has never been more needed."

The 44-year-old magazine, which published its 500th edition in March, aims to highlight social injustice around the world, especially in developing countries.

In the era of 'fake news' and the upsurge in populism, New Internationalist writers urged people to 'buy into a better story' by funding their independent journalism.

In an email to supporters on Friday Ms Wallis said: "So, this email finds us audience-owned, fully capitalized and in a position to put our ambitious plans into action.

"With New Internationalist on a secure financial footing, we can embrace new technologies, revamp our magazine and build the book publishing and Ethical Shop arms of our business."

She added: "A big thank you to everyone who invested or helped to spread the word, or even just willed us on from the side-lines.

"With 3,400 new co-owners we are gonna need a bigger pub."