Dagbladet Børsen
Dagbladet Børsen ended 2025 in a position that few legacy newspaper companies in Europe currently occupy: growing, solidly profitable, conservatively financed, and deliberately preparing for a future in which print may no longer exist.
For the year, the company generated approximately DKK 334 million in revenue, equivalent to roughly €44.7 million, and recorded EBIT of about DKK 56 million (around €7.5 million). Net profit reached approximately DKK 45–46 million, or about €6.1 million. This marked the third consecutive year of bottom-line improvement and, importantly, performance exceeded management’s own targets. The company had aimed for around 4% EBIT growth and 3% growth in total and readers’ revenue; actual results came in closer to 6% EBIT growth and roughly 4% revenue growth, with readers’ revenue increasing by about 3%.
Financial Structure: High Margin, High Solvency, Low Leverage
| 2025 Indicator | Approx. DKK | Approx. EUR* |
|---|---|---|
| Total revenue | 334,000,000 | 44,700,000 |
| EBIT | 56,000,000 | 7,500,000 |
| Net profit | 45,700,000 | 6,100,000 |
| Balance sheet total | 255,000,000 | 34,100,000 |
| Equity | 132,500,000 | 17,700,000 |
| Solvency ratio | c. 51–52% | — |
| Revenue per employee | 1,584,000 | 212,000 |
*Exchange rate used: DKK 7.48 per euro.
In the context of Denmark’s media market, where print circulation continues to erode and advertising markets are structurally pressured, this combination of growth and margin stability stands out. Børsen is expanding while maintaining a double-digit operating margin.
Financially, the company’s structure reinforces that strength. With total assets of roughly DKK 255 million (€34.1 million) and equity of about DKK 132.5 million (€17.7 million), Børsen maintains a solvency ratio slightly above 50 percent. In a sector where leverage often constrains strategic flexibility, this balance sheet provides room to invest in technology, systems, and product development without immediate financial pressure. Revenue per employee remains high at approximately DKK 1.58 million (€212,000), underscoring the efficiency of the operating model.
The revenue mix is central to understanding this resilience. Subscriptions remain the strategic core, increasingly digital and increasingly corporate. At the end of 2025, Børsen had approximately 84,000 active subscribers, the majority of whom were digital-only customers. Digital engagement exceeded 224 million page views over the year, supported by more than 19,000 published articles. Corporate subscriptions in particular provide a stable base, anchoring revenue in long-term institutional relationships rather than short-term consumer churn.
Advertising, often the weak link for news publishers, performed comparatively well. While many competitors faced stagnation or decline, Børsen grew advertising revenue by roughly 3.5 percent. This suggests that advertisers continue to value access to Børsen’s audience: business leaders, financial professionals, and policy-influencing decision-makers. Conferences, awards programs, and executive education activities add further diversification. The Børsen Gazelle program, which has recognized Denmark’s fastest-growing companies for three decades, remains a powerful brand extension. In 2025, the company expanded its events platform with the Copenhagen Security Summit, drawing more than 1,000 participants to discuss geopolitics and economic resilience, and launched its Future Executives list, highlighting emerging corporate leadership. These initiatives generate revenue, deepen corporate relationships, and reinforce the brand’s authority within Denmark’s business community.
The most consequential strategic signal in the 2025 report, however, is not financial, but structural. Børsen is explicitly preparing for a future in which print may disappear entirely. Its 2030 strategy openly anticipates the possibility of operating without any print products. This is not framed as an emergency response to decline but as a deliberate reconfiguration. Workflows, newsroom systems, and product development are being designed for digital-first, multi-platform distribution. The majority of subscribers are already digital-only, and products such as Børsen Investor integrate real-time financial data with journalism, strengthening the value proposition for market-oriented readers.
This preparation for a post-print environment differentiates Børsen from publishers that continue to treat print erosion as a temporary or reversible trend. Instead, Børsen is attempting a controlled transition, replacing print economics with deeper digital subscription penetration, data-enhanced products, and high-margin event ecosystems. Because the company is undertaking this shift from a position of profitability and balance-sheet strength, the transformation appears strategic rather than reactive.
Ownership structure also matters. As part of the Bonnier News group, Børsen benefits from access to shared systems, capital, and Nordic-scale expertise, while maintaining editorial responsibility and local strategic control in Denmark. In 2025, the separation of the previously combined CEO and editor-in-chief roles clarified governance lines at a time when both commercial and editorial demands are intensifying. The leadership restructuring signals institutional maturity rather than instability.
Editorial positioning remains tightly aligned with its financial strategy. Børsen consistently ranks among Denmark’s most trusted private media outlets and has avoided criticism from the Danish Press Council for several consecutive years. In an era of declining trust in news media and heightened concerns about misinformation, that credibility functions as economic capital. It supports premium subscription pricing, strengthens advertiser confidence, and reduces churn risk. The company’s stated ambition to promote what it calls a “competent democracy” is more than rhetorical positioning. It is rather a differentiation strategy in a crowded attention economy increasingly driven by polarization and short-term engagement metrics.
The central tension facing Børsen is therefore not immediate financial vulnerability but long-term execution risk. Denmark is a small market, limiting natural scale. Corporate subscriptions are exposed to economic cycles. Advertising remains partially subject to global platform dominance. And the elimination of print will require sustained success in digital retention and pricing.