Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Gannett Co., Inc. (GCI)

When a media giant like Gannett Co., Inc. is navigating a digital transformation, its Mission Statement, Vision, and Core Values aren't just HR boilerplate-they are the strategic compass guiding the capital allocation that matters to you.

Honestly, how do you sustain a legacy business when Q3 2025 total revenues dropped to $560.8 million, even as digital revenue mix climbed to 46.9% of the total? The company has to defintely balance the long-term vision of inspiring and informing with the near-term reality of driving a projected 40%+ growth in free cash flow and reducing total debt below the $1.0 billion milestone. What principles drive the hard choices between print and digital, and how does that translate into actionable investment risk and opportunity for your portfolio?

Gannett Co., Inc. (GCI) Overview

Gannett Co., Inc. is a major diversified media and digital marketing solutions company, a business that's been evolving since Frank Gannett first got started in 1906. You might know them best for the national publication USA TODAY, but their reach is far broader, built on a strategy of being subscription-led while offering innovative marketing services.

Today, the company operates through three main segments: Domestic Gannett Media (which includes the USA TODAY NETWORK and over 200 local media organizations across 43 U.S. states), Newsquest (its U.K. media group), and Digital Marketing Solutions (DMS), branded as LocaliQ. For the trailing twelve months ending September 30, 2025, Gannett's total revenue stood at approximately $2.34 billion, reflecting the scale of their print and digital footprint.

Their product mix is simple but powerful:

• Content: Print and digital subscriptions for national and local news.
• Digital Marketing: LocaliQ provides services like SEO, social media management, and website design to local businesses.
• Events: USA TODAY NETWORK Ventures manages community events.

It's a complex business, but the quick math is this: they are aggressively shifting from print reliance to digital revenue streams.

Latest Financial Performance: A Digital Pivot

Looking at the latest financial report, the third quarter of 2025 (Q3 2025) showed a total revenue of $560.8 million, an 8.4% decrease year-over-year. Honestly, in the publishing world, a revenue decline isn't a surprise, but the story is in the pivot. The company is actively managing its debt, reducing the total principal debt outstanding to just $996.4 million as of September 30, 2025.

The real opportunity lies in their digital segment. Digital revenues were $262.7 million in Q3 2025, now accounting for 46.9% of the total revenue. This is the core of their transformation-getting close to the 50% digital revenue mark. Plus, the company announced a new AI licensing agreement with Microsoft, which is defintely expected to drive strong digital revenue growth in the fourth quarter of 2025.

The main product sales driving this growth are clearly digital. Digital advertising revenue was $87.2 million, and the Digital Marketing Solutions (LocaliQ) segment contributed $114.0 million in core platform revenues in Q3 2025. This is a clear signal that the shift to being a digital marketing and subscription service is working to offset the structural decline in traditional print revenue.

Leading the Industry's Transformation

Gannett Co., Inc. remains one of the largest publishers of newspapers in the United States, which places it at the forefront of the media industry's challenging transformation. While the sector faces headwinds, the company's relative performance shows its leadership in adapting. The forecast annual revenue decline of -1.05% for Gannett is actually projected to beat the US Publishing industry's average forecast decline of -1.87%. That's a key indicator of competitive strength.

This outperformance, even in a contraction, is a testament to the aggressive focus on digital revenue and cost management. They are navigating a tough environment better than the peer group average, which is the definition of a leader in a disruptive market. To understand the granular details behind this financial resilience, you should look deeper. Breaking Down Gannett Co., Inc. (GCI) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors

Gannett Co., Inc. (GCI) Mission Statement

You're looking for the bedrock of Gannett Co., Inc.'s (GCI) strategy, and honestly, it's all in the mission statement. The mission isn't just a corporate plaque; it's the operating manual that guides their pivot from a traditional newspaper company to a digital-first, diversified media enterprise. The direct takeaway? Gannett's mission is to inspire, inform, and connect communities while driving sustainable growth through trusted journalism and innovative Digital Marketing Solutions (DMS).

This statement is crucial because it maps their long-term goals directly to their revenue streams. When you see total revenues of $560.80 million in the third quarter of 2025, you need to know what activities generated that. It's a mix of legacy print and high-growth digital, and the mission justifies every dollar spent on one over the other. It's how they plan to exceed the expected repayment of over $135 million of debt by the end of 2025, strengthening their capital structure. If you want a deeper dive on how those numbers stack up, you can check out Breaking Down Gannett Co., Inc. (GCI) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors.

Core Component 1: Delivering High-Quality, Trusted Journalism

The first pillar is a commitment to content quality-the 'trusted journalism' part of the mission. For a media company, trust is the ultimate non-fungible asset. Gannett operates the USA TODAY NETWORK, which is explicitly focused on delivering balanced, unbiased journalism across its national publication, USA TODAY, and hundreds of local properties. This focus is what keeps the lights on and the audience engaged.

The proof is in the sustained reach and the accolades. The network has won 96 Pulitzer Prizes since 1918, a clear indicator of their historical commitment to excellence. More recently, their digital-only subscription revenues hit $42.7 million in the second quarter of 2025, showing that consumers are defintely willing to pay for this trusted content. That revenue stream is a direct market validation of their quality commitment.

• Win audience trust with unbiased reporting.
• Monetize content through digital subscriptions.
• Maintain journalistic integrity across all platforms.

Core Component 2: Providing Innovative Digital Marketing Solutions (DMS)

The second core component is where the growth engine is roaring: innovative marketing solutions. This is the B2B side of the house, primarily run through their LocaliQ brand. It's a classic diversification play-using their local market presence and data to help small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) compete in a digital world.

LocaliQ provides an end-to-end, AI-powered marketing platform, moving beyond simple ad placement to full-service digital strategy. This segment is a critical part of the company's digital transformation. Here's the quick math: Digital Marketing Solutions segment core platform revenues were $116.9 million in Q2 2025. That's a massive, high-margin revenue stream that balances the pressures on traditional print advertising. Management is confident enough to project that total digital revenues will make up 50% of total revenues during 2025, a massive milestone. That's a strong signal about where the future capital is going.

Core Component 3: Connecting and Empowering Communities

The final component ties the first two together: empowering and enriching communities. This is the social license to operate. Gannett's physical and digital footprint is vast, and their mission is to use that scale to foster local prosperity and civic engagement. They don't just report the news; they aim to be a vital part of the local ecosystem.

Their reach is immense. The USA TODAY NETWORK engages approximately 195 million average monthly unique visitors across its platforms. That translates to a reach of about 1 in 2 adults in the U.S. This nationwide network is the infrastructure for both their journalism and their marketing solutions. By connecting local audiences with local businesses, they create a flywheel effect. They empower communities through storytelling, which in turn drives engagement, which then makes their digital marketing services more valuable to local advertisers. It's a virtuous cycle for a media company, and it's why their total principal debt of $1,014.9 million as of June 30, 2025, is manageable; they have a clear, mission-driven path to generate the cash flow needed to service it.

Gannett Co., Inc. (GCI) Vision Statement

If you're looking at Gannett Co., Inc. (GCI), you need to understand that their whole strategic pivot-which led to the November 2025 rebrand to USA TODAY Co.-is built on a simple, three-part vision: be sustainable, be growth-focused, and be a dual media/digital marketing solutions company. This isn't just corporate jargon; it maps directly to their balance sheet and their aggressive debt pay-down strategy.

The core takeaway is this: the company is moving from a legacy print business managing decline to a digital-first entity chasing new revenue streams, a shift you can see in their Q3 2025 results. They are trying to stabilize total revenue trends by early 2026, which is the near-term risk and opportunity.

Vision: Sustainable, Growth-Focused Media and Digital Marketing

Gannett's vision is to inspire, inform, and connect audiences as a sustainable, growth-focused Media and Digital Marketing Solutions (DMS) company. This means two things for investors and strategists: first, they are obsessed with cost structure, and second, they are betting on digital to drive the future.

Sustainability, in this context, is about creating a lower and more variable cost base. The company just completed a targeted annualized expense reduction program of approximately $100 million, which should boost margins in the back half of 2025 and into 2026. That's a huge operational lever in a declining revenue environment. Plus, they are laser-focused on strengthening the capital structure, having reduced their total principal debt to below $1.0 billion, specifically $996.4 million, as of September 30, 2025.

The 'growth-focused' part comes entirely from digital. In Q3 2025, digital revenues hit $262.7 million, representing 46.9% of total revenues, and they project this will cross the 50% threshold by 2026. This growth is driven by:

• Expanding their digital-only subscription base.
• Monetizing content through AI licensing deals, like the one with Microsoft announced in Q3 2025.
• Growing the Digital Marketing Solutions (DMS) segment, LocaliQ, which supports small and medium-sized businesses.

Their digital transformation is defintely the core of their future valuation model.

Mission: Empowering Communities Through Trusted Journalism

The company's mission is to empower and enrich communities through trusted journalism and innovative marketing solutions. This is the 'why' behind the business, but it's also a critical moat (a sustainable competitive advantage) in the age of misinformation. Without high-quality, trusted content, the digital subscription model falls apart.

The current strategy is to deliver high-quality, balanced, unbiased journalism across their nationwide network, including USA TODAY and hundreds of local properties. This content is the valuable asset that allows them to strike AI licensing deals, like the one with Perplexity, which generates both licensing fees and ad revenue share. Here's the quick math: if you can license your content for fair value and redirect unauthorized AI scraping to a licensing page, you turn a threat into a monetization opportunity.

The DMS segment, LocaliQ, is the other half of the mission, providing innovative digital marketing products to local businesses, essentially helping those communities thrive economically. This segment saw sequential growth in core platform revenue in Q2 2025, with core platform Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) reaching a record high of $2,830. That is a strong indicator of product-market fit in a high-value B2B space.

Core Values: The Pillars of Integrity and Innovation

Gannett's core values-integrity, customer focus, innovation, and teamwork-aren't just posters on the wall; they are the behavioral guardrails for their digital transition. The shift from print to digital is a brutal one, and these values dictate how they manage the trade-offs.

Integrity and Customer Focus are directly tied to retaining their 1.93 million digital-only paid subscribers (as of Q1 2025) and reducing churn among print readers. If onboarding takes 14+ days, churn risk rises, so they are prioritizing personalized, relevant experiences, especially for local subscribers.

Innovation is where the rubber meets the road. They were the first U.S. publisher to deploy Taboola's DeeperDive, a Generative AI answer engine, directly on USA TODAY. This technology uses their proprietary content to answer reader questions, which increases engagement and creates a new, high-intent ad revenue channel right on their platform. This kind of proactive tech adoption is what separates a realist from a laggard.

To be fair, the Q3 2025 net loss attributable to Gannett was still $39.2 million, so the transformation is not complete, but the strategic actions align with the stated values and vision. You can find a deeper dive into who is buying into this vision here: Exploring Gannett Co., Inc. (GCI) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

Next Step: Finance: Analyze the impact of the $100 million cost reduction program on Q4 2025 Adjusted EBITDA projections by next Tuesday.

Gannett Co., Inc. (GCI) Core Values

As a seasoned analyst, I see Gannett Co., Inc. (GCI) navigating a complex media transition, and its core values are the defintely the roadmap for how it manages this shift. The company's strategy hinges on four pillars: Integrity, Customer Focus, Innovation, and Teamwork. These values aren't just posters on a wall; they are tied directly to financial and operational decisions in the 2025 fiscal year, especially as the company pushes toward a digital-first model.

You need to see how these principles translate into capital allocation and business actions.

For a deeper dive into the market's reaction to these shifts, you might find this analysis helpful: Exploring Gannett Co., Inc. (GCI) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

Integrity: Delivering Trusted Content

Integrity, for a media company, means a steadfast commitment to balanced, unbiased journalism and ethical news-gathering. This value is critical for maintaining audience trust, which directly supports the subscription revenue model. Gannett's commitment is evident in its investment in the next generation of journalists.

For example, the 2025 Gannett Forward Summer Internship Program specifically includes training led by veteran journalists on core topics like ethics, source development, and open records. This isn't a minor detail; it's a structural investment in the quality of the content pipeline. The goal is to ensure that the USA TODAY NETWORK's massive reach, which averages 187 million monthly unique visitors as of Q3 2025, is built on a foundation of trust.

• Uphold journalistic standards and ethics.
• Ensure content is balanced and unbiased.
• Invest in journalist training programs.

Customer Focus: Building Relationships and Experiences

Customer Focus is about being devoted to both the consumer of news and the business advertiser. You can see this value play out in Gannett's subscription model changes and its Digital Marketing Solutions (DMS) segment, LocaliQ. The company is actively adjusting its subscription strategy to reduce churn (customers leaving) by moving away from overly cheap introductory offers, recognizing that long-term relationships are more valuable than a quick sign-up.

On the business side, LocaliQ uses proprietary Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to optimize marketing for small and medium-sized businesses. This AI-driven approach helps advertisers connect with the right audience, which drives revenue. In Q2 2025, the DMS segment reported core platform revenues of $116.9 million, showing that this customer-centric, data-driven solution is a significant revenue pillar.

Innovation: Driving Digital Transformation

Innovation is the engine of Gannett's financial pivot, moving the business from print dependency to a sustainable, digital-first model. The company's digital revenues hit 46.9% of total revenues in Q3 2025, a clear milestone. This shift is fueled by a twin strategy: maximizing content value and optimizing operations.

You see this in their recent AI licensing deals, including one with Perplexity and a new agreement with Microsoft announced in Q3 2025. These deals monetize Gannett's vast content library, creating a new revenue stream from technology companies using their data. Plus, the ongoing $100 million cost reduction program leverages AI-driven automation across back-office processes, proving that innovation is also about efficiency. Here's the quick math: Q2 2025 Total Adjusted EBITDA was $64.2 million, and these efficiency programs are designed to grow that margin.

Teamwork: Leveraging Diverse Teams

The value of Teamwork at Gannett is less about traditional office collaboration and more about leveraging the scale of the USA TODAY NETWORK. The core idea is that all voices-both internal and external-were meant to be heard. The network structure itself is a massive collaboration tool, allowing content sharing across national and local markets, which makes the entire organization more efficient.

Internally, the focus is on creating places where people belong. The company's commitment to inclusion, equity, and diversity is a direct manifestation of this value, with events like the 2025 Diversity Equity and Inclusion Awards Program and Summit highlighting leaders who foster an inclusive environment. This focus on diverse teams is a strategic move, too, as McKinsey research shows strong cross-functional collaboration makes businesses up to 5x more likely to deliver high performance.