• by Ray Schultz , Yesterday

Gannett is implementing a nine-digit cost reduction, the company said in its Q2 financial report. 

It was not clear at deadline how much of these savings will be realized through staff cuts. Gannett recently announced that it will be offering buyouts to employees, a report states. 

"To support our long-term growth objectives, we are implementing targeted annualized expense reductions of approximately $100 million that we anticipate will create a lower and more variable cost structure,” says CEO Mike Reed. 

In Q2, Gannett realized $584.9 million in total revenue, a decrease of 8.6% YoY. 

Digital revenue fell to $265.4 million, down from $278 million in the same period last year. Print fell to $319 million, compared to $360 million in Q2 2024. 

Net income totaled $78.3 million, versus $13.7 million in the prior year’s quarter. 

Reed adds that Gannett “saw meaningful improvement in our digital advertising trends, which increased from a decline in the first quarter to an increase of 4% in the second quarter, and we expect digital advertising trends to further improve in the third quarter.”

Gannett now has 181 million average monthly unique visitors. It reports digital ad revenues of $87.9 million and digital-only subscription revenues of $42.7 million. And the firm expects digital to contribute 50% of its total revenue in 2026. 

Its digital marketing solutions business hit $116.9 million.

Reed highlights Gannett’s content-licensing deal with Perplexity, announced on Wednesday. He adds, “we were the first U.S. publisher to launch the beta of Taboola’s generative AI answer engine, DeeperDive, within our USA Today platform.”

Debt repayment is another financial imperative.  

"As part of our long-term strategy, debt repayment remains a high priority, and we continue to make measurable progress, repaying $23.4 million of debt in the second quarter," Reed says.