• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, 4 hours ago

Gannett had at least a few pieces of upbeat news in its Q3 financials, released Thursday morning. 

For one, total company debt has fallen below $1 billion.  

In addition, "We are also very excited to announce this morning our newest AI licensing agreement, partnering with Microsoft on their upcoming launch of its Publisher Content Marketplace,” says Michael Reed, CEO of Gannett. 

And, "The partial summary judgment ruling earlier this week in our lawsuit against Google is also a promising milestone,” Reed adds. “The decision represents an important step forward, as it establishes liability on several claims.”

That may be as good as it gets. 

On the negative side, total revenue fell by 8.4% YoY to $560.8 million. This was affected by roughly $7 million of digital revenue that shifted to the fourth quarter of 2025. And, there were unplanned expenses in Q3 tied to the firm’s $100 million cost reduction program. However, Reed reports that the implementation of this has been completed.   
Gannett posted a net loss of $39 million, versus $19.6 million for the same period in the prior year. 

Digital revenue, which now makes up 46.9.% of the company total, slipped to $262.7 million from $277 million in Q3 2024. And print and commercial fell to $298 million from $335 million in the prior year. 

Meanwhile, Gannett has updated its full-year business outlook as follows: 

Total digital revenues are expected to fall in the low single digits on a same store basis, but will comprise 50%+ of total revenues during 2026. 

In addition, the company expects total revenues to be down in the low-mid single digits on a same store basis, leading to flat same store revenue trends in early 2026.