USA Today

USA TODAY Co., Inc., formerly Gannett Co., Inc., which changed its corporate name in November 2025, reported net income of $1.7 million for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025, its first annual profit after two consecutive years of losses. Total revenues fell 8.2 percent to $2.30 billion (FY2024: $2.51 billion), reflecting an unbroken decline in print and commercial revenues, now down to $1.25 billion and falling at 11 percent per year.

Digital revenues also contracted for the first time in the three-year comparative series, dropping 4.3 percent to $1.06 billion, against a prior-year comparison that had itself grown 5 percent. The company operates in three segments , USA TODAY Media (the domestic newspaper and digital network), Newsquest (the UK regional press subsidiary), and LocaliQ (a digital marketing services platform for small and medium-sized businesses) , and carries $954 million in debt at carrying value as of year-end.

Key financial indicators

All figures in US dollars. Total Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP measure as defined and reconciled by the company in the 10-K. Digital-only paid subscriptions and ARPU are company-disclosed KPIs. FY2023 total debt and total assets not separately extracted here; available in the FY2023 10-K. Print subscriber count (~800,000) and unique visitor figure (186 million average monthly) are management disclosures from the FY2025 10-K narrative.

Source: USA TODAY Co., Inc. Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025, filed with the SEC on February 26, 2026 (PCAOB ID: 248; auditor: Grant Thornton LLP).

Media asset map

Source: USA TODAY Co., Inc. Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025. Audience and circulation data are company disclosures; Comscore audience ranking is third-party verified as cited in the filing.

Signals

A rebranding that does not change the underlying structure

The November 2025 name change from Gannett Co. to USA TODAY Co. is a branding decision, not a structural one. The parent of the operating business is not USA TODAY the publication but a holding company that happens to carry that name, owning a network that includes roughly 200 US local titles along with the national newspaper. Gannett acquired the legacy Gannett Co. in a 2019 merger in which the New Media Investment Group (the acquirer) took the Gannett name. The lineage from that deal, including the financing structures and counterparties it brought, runs directly through to the balance sheet described in this filing.

Apollo is the dominant creditor

The 10-K states that a majority of the company’s outstanding indebtedness is held by entities controlled, managed or advised by a large financial sponsor, and that this creditor owns a majority in aggregate principal amount of the outstanding 2031 Notes. While the filing does not name the sponsor directly in this context, public filings and contemporaneous disclosures confirm this to be Apollo Global Management. Apollo refinanced Gannett’s debt in October 2024 through a $900 million first lien term loan (the 2029 Term Loan Facility, administered through Apollo Administrative Agency LLC) and holds the majority of the $223.7 million in 6% convertible notes due 2031. The 10-K describes this concentration explicitly as a governance risk: the creditor may exercise its rights in a manner that diverges from stockholder interests, and if the 2031 Notes were converted, this single counterparty could possess significant voting power. As of December 31, 2025, total outstanding debt stood at $977.3 million (face value), against total equity of $154.6 million.

Digital revenue fell and the subscription base is contracting

The headline claim that digital is now 46 percent of revenues requires context. Digital revenues of $1.056 billion include LocaliQ, the digital marketing services business that sells Google, Facebook and Microsoft advertising inventory to small businesses. LocaliQ contributed $448 million of the digital total; it is not journalism revenue. Without LocaliQ out, the journalism segments (USA TODAY Media and Newsquest) generated $735 million in digital revenues in FY2025, down from $772 million in FY2024. Within that figure, digital-only subscription revenue at USA TODAY Media fell 8.5 percent to $166 million, reflecting a 30 percent decline in digital-only paid subscriptions, from 1.953 million to 1.367 million, that the company attributes to subscriber churn and the absence of divested businesses. The company’s digital-only ARPU (average monthly revenue per subscriber) rose 6.5 percent to $8.34, so rate increases are partially masking volume losses. Newsquest’s digital subscription base grew 31.8 percent to 145,000, a positive signal for the UK operation but at a much lower ARPU ($5.90) and from a small base.

Digital advertising at USA TODAY Media grew 3 percent to $301 million, driven by national programmatic revenue; local digital advertising declined. Digital other revenues, the category that captures AI licensing, content syndication, and affiliate arrangements, fell 23 percent to $58.6 million at USA TODAY Media, partly due to the termination and amendment of affiliate agreements and the absence of revenues from divested businesses.

Print decline is structural and accelerating in circulation

Print and commercial revenues fell $159.5 million (11.3%) to $1.246 billion in FY2025. Within the USA TODAY Media segment, print circulation revenue declined 13.4 percent to $505 million, reflecting lower home delivery and single-copy volume. The company held approximately 800,000 print subscribers at year-end 2025, down from a peak that is not separately disclosed in this filing but implied by the magnitude of prior revenue disclosures. Commercial and other revenues, which include third-party commercial printing, a revenue stream generated by selling excess press capacity, fell 14.1 percent to $181 million at the USA TODAY Media segment; commercial printing alone fell from $141.8 million to $111.2 million, indicating a shrinking addressable market for that ancillary business as newsprint volumes contract across the industry. Newsprint consumption fell 18 percent to approximately 78,000 metric tons in 2025.

The Detroit Free Press Joint Operating Agreement with MediaNews Group, under which the two publishers shared production and back-office functions, ended in December 2025 after the parties decided not to renew. On January 31, 2026, the company completed the acquisition of The Detroit News from MediaNews Group, funded with $15 million in incremental term loan borrowings from Apollo-managed funds. This consolidation of the Detroit market is noted as a subsequent event and adds the operating costs and revenues of The Detroit News to the FY2026 accounts.

The workforce and cost structure

The company employed approximately 7,500 people in the US and approximately 1,800 at Newsquest in the UK at year-end 2025, for a total of roughly 9,500. Approximately 15 percent of US employees are represented by labour unions across six bargaining units; 78 collective bargaining agreements were in place. Integration and reorganisation costs, primarily severance, were $31.6 million in FY2025, down from $66.2 million in FY2024, with $28.9 million related to severance activities. The FY2024 figure was inflated by $24.5 million in multiemployer pension withdrawal liabilities triggered by the company’s decision to cease contributions to those plans. Total compensation and benefits at USA TODAY Media fell from $648 million to $557 million (operating plus SG&A combined), reflecting both headcount reduction and divestiture impacts.

The Google litigation

The 10-K discloses $4.8 million in expert fees associated with litigation with Google in FY2025, down from $13.2 million in FY2024. This is a reference to the antitrust litigation that the company filed against Google in the US District Court for the District of New Jersey in December 2023, alleging that Google’s dominance in the digital advertising market harmed publishers including Gannett. The case is ongoing. The declining fee line suggests a reduction in expert witness activity, though this may reflect the litigation’s phase rather than its trajectory. Total ‘Other income’ of $26.3 million in FY2025 includes a $9.7 million gain on sale of investments and $25.5 million in what the filing characterises as pension-related non-service components, partially offset by the Google litigation costs and consulting fees.

Outlook and structural tensions

Management has guided capital expenditure of $55 to $65 million for FY2026, primarily digital product development and technology systems. The minimum liquidity covenant under the term loan requires $30 million at the end of each fiscal quarter; end-2025 cash was $90.2 million, providing headroom. Asset disposals generated $55.3 million in proceeds in FY2025, including the sale of the Austin American-Statesman (completed February 28, 2025, pre-tax gain $20.8 million) and real estate. The company’s ability to continue selling properties and non-core titles is a meaningful liquidity lever; the balance sheet still carries $178.5 million in net property, plant and equipment and $856.6 million in combined goodwill and intangible assets, largely inherited from the 2019 merger and subject to ongoing amortisation of $79.4 million per year in intangible amortisation alone (total D&A was $165.8 million in FY2025).

The 10-K’s risk factor section identifies newsprint price increases expected in 2026 as a specific cost pressure, alongside the broader secular decline in print and the structural dependency on large technology platforms, Google, Facebook and Microsoft, whose policies govern both the LocaliQ revenue model and the discoverability of the company’s own journalism. The 10-K also flags the AI ecosystem as accelerating change in the sector, while simultaneously identifying AI content licensing as an emerging revenue source, a tension the filing does not resolve.

Primary source

USA TODAY Co., Inc., Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025, filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on February 26, 2026. Audited by Grant Thornton LLP (PCAOB ID: 248). Available via SEC EDGAR.

Editorial notes

All financial figures are drawn from the audited consolidated financial statements and management’s discussion and analysis in the 10-K. Figures marked as management disclosures (audience, subscriber counts, employee numbers) are company-reported and unaudited by Grant Thornton unless otherwise indicated. The Apollo creditor identification is based on public SEC filings and the October 2024 credit agreement filing (Exhibit 10.23 to this 10-K), not stated by name in the risk factor section of this document. The Detroit News acquisition (January 31, 2026) is a subsequent event and not reflected in the FY2025 financial statements.