But perhaps there's something more to the story? There are a lot of little reasons that could make it more reasonable. Were people fighting over it? Was a person or people walking by his desk waiting for him to finish, or worse, asking if he was finished? Or digging in his trash can? Or worse, assuming he was finished and taking it off his desk? All of these would be rather annoying things I could see leading to that.
I remember when I worked in a grocery with a deli, we used to give away or heavily heavily discount fried chicken at close time. Eventually more and more people started crowding around at closing time, clogging the area, arguing who was there first, etc. What was a logical nice choice turned into the owner saying screw it, throw it all away every night. An outsider would say it's wasteful or mean, but seeing it happen gave a good context.
Anyhow, in your example, I think it's reasonable anyone depending or expecting said paper to chip in. Maybe rotate days, offer a buck here or there, buy coffee, whatever. Or ask the company to buy a few copies for everyone.
A context with a dumb solution. How about reducing the discount?
But honestly, an office spending 10 or 20 bucks on multiple daily newspapers is the correct answer, as it's miles cheaper than having the tension that OP described existing.
If I worked with him I'd bring in the same paper every day and leave it in the common area near his desk.