USA TODAY Co. Announces Second Quarter Results & Reiterates Business Outlook

NEW YORK, NY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--USA TODAY Co., Inc. ("USA TODAY Co.", "we", "us", "our", or the "Company") (NYSE: TDAY) today reported its financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2026.

"The second quarter reflected continued progress against our long-term strategy and reinforced our confidence in reaffirming our full-year outlook. We reduced operating expenses by approximately 8% year-over-year, generated approximately $20 million of free cash flow, an increase of approximately 11% year-over-year, and delivered positive net income for the second consecutive quarter," said Michael Reed, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

"Our Digital-only subscription and Digital other businesses continued to build momentum and remain important drivers of our long-term growth. Digital-only subscription revenues grew year-over-year for the second consecutive quarter, while digital-only ARPU reached another record high. Digital other revenues also grew year-over-year, and we expect this revenue stream to continue expanding throughout the year as we broaden our portfolio of content licensing partners and further grow our commerce opportunities."

"Consumer discovery continues to evolve beyond traditional search, and we have been preparing for that shift by expanding our reach across social, video and newsletters while strengthening our first-party audience capabilities. Combined with investments in technologies like Palantir, these initiatives are helping us better understand and monetize our audience while building a more diversified and resilient business."

"While quarterly results may fluctuate as we execute our strategy, our long-term business plan remains intact and supports our confidence in reaffirming our full-year outlook. Across the business we continue to see meaningful progress, and we believe are getting close to crossing that revenue inflection point. We believe we are building a strong operating foundation on a large and engaged audience, from which data and signals will drive greatly improved monetization as we leverage that intelligence."

"We are confident in the steps we are taking to position the Company for sustainable long-term revenue growth combined with free cash flow growth and margin expansion, leading to long-term value creation for shareholders."

Second Quarter 2026 Financial Highlights:

• Total revenues of $536.3 million decreased 8.3% year-over-year and decreased 6.1% on a same-store basis⁽¹⁾
• Total digital revenues of $254.3 million, or 47.4% of total revenues
• Net income attributable to USA TODAY Co. of $9.1 million, reflecting the second consecutive quarter of positive net income
• Total Adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾ of $56.9 million
• Cash provided by operating activities of $35.4 million
• Free cash flow⁽¹⁾ of $19.6 million

Second Quarter 2026 Digital Highlights:

• 158 million average monthly unique visitors⁽²⁾
• Digital advertising revenues of $79.8 million
• Digital-only subscription revenues of $45.6 million, representing the second consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth
• LocaliQ segment core platform revenues⁽³⁾ of $106.3 million
  • Key metrics improved sequentially including core platform revenues⁽³⁾, Segment Adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾, core platform average revenue per user⁽³⁾ and core platform average customer count⁽³⁾

Second Quarter 2026 Capital Structure Highlights:

• Cash and cash equivalents of $86.7 million as of June 30, 2026
• Total debt principal outstanding at June 30, 2026 was $970.5 million, including $722.7 million in first lien debt
• First lien net leverage⁽⁴⁾ was 2.3x, a decrease of 14% year-over-year

Business Outlook:⁽⁵⁾

The Company reiterates its full year 2026 outlook.

• Full Year 2026 Business Outlook⁽⁵⁾
  • Total revenues are expected to be flat to down in the low single digits on a same store basis⁽¹⁾
    • Total digital revenues are expected to grow versus the prior year on a same store basis⁽¹⁾ and are expected to make up 50%+ of total revenues during 2026
  • Net income attributable to USA TODAY Co. is expected to grow versus the prior year
  • Total Adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾ is expected to grow versus the prior year
  • Cash provided by operating activities is expected to grow double-digits versus the prior year
  • Free cash flow⁽¹⁾ is expected to grow double-digits versus the prior year

Financial Highlights:

Earnings Conference Call

Management will host a conference call on Thursday, August 6, 2026 at 8:30 A.M. Eastern Time to review the financial and operating results for the period. A copy of the earnings release will be posted to the Investor Relations section of USA TODAY Co.'s website, investors.usatodayco.com. The conference call may be accessed by dialing 1-888-506-0062 (from within the U.S.) or 1-973-528-0011 (from outside of the U.S.) ten minutes prior to the scheduled start of the call; please reference "USA TODAY Co. Second Quarter Earnings Call" or access code "581209". We use our website as a channel of distribution for important Company information and we use the investors.usatodayco.com website as a means of disclosing material non-public information and for complying with our disclosure obligations under Regulation FD. A simultaneous webcast of the conference call will be available to the public on a listen-only basis at investors.usatodayco.com. Please allow extra time prior to the call to visit the website and download any necessary software required to listen to the internet broadcast. A telephonic replay of the conference call will also be available approximately two hours following the call's completion through 11:59 P.M. Eastern Time on Thursday, August 20, 2026 by dialing 1-877-481-4010 (from within the U.S.) or 1-919-882-2331 (from outside of the U.S.); please reference access code "53737". A transcript of our earnings call held today also will be posted to the investors.usatodayco.com website.

About USA TODAY Co.

USA TODAY Co., Inc. (NYSE: TDAY) is a diversified media company with expansive reach at the national and local level dedicated to empowering and enriching communities. Our mission is to inspire, inform, and connect audiences. As a media and digital marketing solutions company we are focused on sustainable growth. Through our trusted brands, including the USA TODAY NETWORK, comprised of the national publication, USA TODAY, and our network of local properties, in the United States, and Newsquest, a wholly-owned subsidiary operating in the United Kingdom, we provide essential journalism, local content, and digital experiences to audiences and businesses. We deliver trusted unbiased journalism when and where consumers want it. LocaliQ, our digital marketing solutions brand, supports small and medium-sized businesses with innovative digital marketing products and solutions.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain items in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but not limited to, our full year 2026 business outlook, statements regarding our business outlook, digital revenue and digital other revenues performance and growth, expectations regarding our cash from operating activities, free cash flows, margin expansion, revenues, net income (loss) attributable to USA TODAY Co., Total Adjusted EBITDA, same store revenues and cash flows, expectations regarding our long-term growth, sustainable growth, revenue inflection point, and audience growth, our ability to create long-term stockholder value, our expectations, in terms of both amount and timing, with respect to debt repayment, our ability to protect our content, expand AI-related monetization opportunities and our pipeline of AI opportunities, growth of our AI content licensing, our expected capital expenditures, expectations regarding our assets, our strategy, our partnerships, our ability to achieve our operating priorities, our long-term opportunities, economic impacts, our ability to navigate volatility, achieve our financial goals, optimize our capital structure and achieve optimal financial performance, our cost structure, future revenue and expense trends, and our ability to influence trends. Words such as "expect", "believe", "will", "can", "positioning", "initiative", "building", "opportunity", "outlook", "guidance", "optimistic", "estimate", "projection", "trend", "focus", and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These statements are based on management's current expectations and beliefs and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. These and other risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements, many of which are beyond our control. The Company can give no assurance its expectations will be attained. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements contained in this press release. For a discussion of some of the risks and important factors that could cause actual results to differ from such forward-looking statements, see the risks and other factors detailed from time to time in the Company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Furthermore, new risks and uncertainties emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for the Company to predict or assess the impact of every factor that may cause its actual results to differ from those contained in any forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. Except to the extent required by law, the Company expressly disclaims any obligation to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in the Company's expectations with regard thereto or change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any statement is based.

USE OF NON-GAAP INFORMATION

The Company uses non-GAAP financial performance and liquidity measures to supplement the financial information presented on a U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("U.S. GAAP") basis. We define our non-GAAP financial performance and liquidity measures as follows:

• Total Adjusted EBITDA, Segment Adjusted EBITDA and Segment Adjusted EBITDA margin are non-GAAP financial performance measures we believe offer a useful view of the overall operation of our business, and may be different than similarly-titled measures used by other companies. We define Total Adjusted EBITDA as Segment Adjusted EBITDA plus Corporate. Segment Adjusted EBITDA, as presented in the notes to our Condensed consolidated financial statements included in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the six months ended June 30, 2026, is defined as revenues less (1) operating costs and (2) selling, general and administrative expenses, plus (3) equity (income) loss in unconsolidated investees, net. Segment Adjusted EBITDA also does not include: (1) Income tax expense (benefit), (2) Noncontrolling interest, (3) Interest expense, (4) Gains or losses on the early extinguishment of debt, (5) Loss on convertible notes derivative, (6) Depreciation and amortization, (7) Integration and reorganization costs, (8) Asset impairments, (9) Goodwill and intangible impairments, (10) Gains or losses on the sale or disposal of assets, (11) Share-based compensation expense, and (12) Other (income) expense, net. Segment Adjusted EBITDA margin is defined as Segment Adjusted EBITDA divided by Segment revenues.

• Total Adjusted EBITDA margin is a non-GAAP financial performance measure we believe offers a useful view of the overall and segment operations of our business. We define Total Adjusted EBITDA margin as Total Adjusted EBITDA divided by total Revenues.

• Adjusted net income (loss) attributable to USA TODAY Co. is a non-GAAP financial performance measure we believe offers a useful view of the overall operations of our business and is useful to analysts and investors in evaluating the results of operations and operational trends. We define Adjusted net income (loss) attributable to USA TODAY Co. as Net income (loss) attributable to USA TODAY Co. before (1) Gains or losses on the early extinguishment of debt, (2) Loss on convertible notes derivative, (3) Integration and reorganization costs, (4) Third-party debt expenses and acquisition costs, (5) Asset impairments, (6) Goodwill and intangibles impairments, (7) Gains or losses on the sale or disposal of assets, (8) Other items, including (Gain) loss on sale of investments, and (9) the tax impact of the above items.

• Free cash flow is a non-GAAP liquidity measure that adjusts our reported U.S. GAAP results for items we believe are critical to the ongoing success of our business. We define Free cash flow as Cash provided by (used for) operating activities as reported on the Condensed consolidated statements of cash flows including the impact of (i) capital expenditures and excluding the impact of (ii) third-party debt expenses associated with the refinancing of debt. The result is a figure representing Free cash flow available for use in operations, additional investments, ongoing debt obligations, and returns to stockholders. The most directly comparable U.S. GAAP financial liquidity measure is Cash provided by (used for) operating activities.

• Same store revenues is a non-GAAP financial performance measure based on our U.S. GAAP revenues for the current period, excluding (1) acquired revenues, (2) currency impact, and (3) exited operations.

Management’s Use of Non-GAAP Measures

Total Adjusted EBITDA, Total Adjusted EBITDA margin, Segment Adjusted EBITDA, Segment Adjusted EBITDA margin, Adjusted net income (loss) attributable to USA TODAY Co., Free cash flow and Same store revenues are not measurements of financial performance or liquidity under U.S. GAAP and should not be considered in isolation or as an alternative to net income (loss), margin, income (loss) from operations, cash flow provided by (used for) operating activities, revenues, or any other measure of performance or liquidity derived in accordance with U.S. GAAP. We believe these non-GAAP financial performance and liquidity measures, as we have defined them, are helpful in identifying trends in our day-to-day performance because the items excluded have little or no significance on our day-to-day operations. These measures provide an assessment of core expenses and afford management the ability to make decisions which are expected to facilitate meeting current financial goals as well as achieve optimal financial performance.

We use Total Adjusted EBITDA, Total Adjusted EBITDA margin, Segment Adjusted EBITDA, Segment Adjusted EBITDA margin, Adjusted net income (loss) attributable to USA TODAY Co., Free cash flow and Same store revenues as measures of our day-to-day operating performance, which is evidenced by the publishing and delivery of news and other media and excludes certain expenses that may not be indicative of our day-to-day business operating results.

Limitations of Non-GAAP Measures

Each of our non-GAAP measures have limitations as analytical tools. They should not be viewed in isolation or as a substitute for U.S. GAAP measures of earnings or cash flows. Material limitations in making the adjustments to our earnings to calculate Total Adjusted EBITDA, Segment Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted net income (loss) attributable to USA TODAY Co.

For investor inquiries, contact:
Matt Esposito
Investor Relations
703-854-3000
investors@usatodayco.com

For media inquiries, contact:
Lark-Marie Anton
Corporate Communications
646-906-4087
lark@usatodayco.com