USA TODAY Co Inc at UBS Global Media and Communications Conference Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: PK Keller - UBS AG - Analyst : So why don't we start by kind of outlining the company's strategy and your priorities for next year?

Question: PK Keller - UBS AG - Analyst : Great. So you guys are still you still have a majority of nondigital revenue you've spoken to the different types of digital revenue that you're trying to drive building out this kind of full suite of differentiated revenue streams. Can you talk about kind of how that digital mix evolves getting to 50% and where you're trying to kind of build the business in terms of if it's specific lines of revenue or if it's more about kind of the holistic view of the business?

Question: PK Keller - UBS AG - Analyst : Awesome. So going to licensing, AI has been massive over the last few years. I think people have thought print media and legacy media companies are really exposed here, but USA TODAY has been very active in licensing its content. You had the Perplexity deal that started in October. You just announced a new deal. Can you talk about kind of how AI applications are impacting the media industry, both from kind of the licensing perspective? And then are there other ways it can be a net positive to the business?

Question: PK Keller - UBS AG - Analyst : Got it. So can you touch a little bit more on the monetization side, the licensing deals? You signed a lot. Are there kind of other avenues in terms of having just other avenues, I guess?

Question: PK Keller - UBS AG - Analyst : Got it. So those are much shorter term than I would have imagined. I think we've seen other licensing deals, maybe not on the AI side, but in the publishing industry, like multiyear deals. And that speaks to wanting to be ahead of the curve and knowing what this marketplace will be. Can you give us some insight on kind of from signing to operations within the company to monetization? What does that kind of time line look like?

Question: PK Keller - UBS AG - Analyst : Great. So you touched on licensing. You touched on all these different digital revenue streams. I think one investors have looked at is advertising, and you guys have spoken to that being a growth driver given your large audience that you have digitally. Can you talk about kind of the advertising ambitions you have as a company? And how can you kind of more effectively capitalize on the engagement scale that you guys have?

Question: PK Keller - UBS AG - Analyst : Got it. So I think my understanding is people have avoided or advertisers have generally avoided news, maybe some of them maybe not because of the issues that they sometimes touch on. Do you think that's not really becoming a concern anymore?

Question: PK Keller - UBS AG - Analyst : Got it. Okay. That makes -- the arguments make a lot of sense there. So you kind of touched on Google and the Google lawsuit. I know you guys had a recent kind of court finding there, which you viewed as positive. Maybe outline us -- give us a little rundown of that, your view on it and maybe kind of the long term impacts for your business and the ad tech space broadly. LSEG STREETEVENTS | www.lseg.com | Contact Us consent of LSEG. 'LSEG' and the LSEG logo are registered trademarks of LSEG and its affiliated companies. DECEMBER 09, 2025 / 2:45PM, TDAY.N - USA TODAY Co Inc at UBS Global Media and Communications Conference

Question: PK Keller - UBS AG - Analyst : Great. That's great to hear. So I'd like to talk about kind of PLAY, which you talked about the kind of horizontal scale you guys have with a number of different publications. You talked about the different verticals, sports being very big, entertainment and the different types of revenue. I think PLAY is new versus games. Can you give us an update? It just launched in October. How is it going? How is engagement with the new service?

Question: PK Keller - UBS AG - Analyst : Got it. That's awesome. So you talked about kind of the engagement that it's bringing. Are you seeing it bring in kind of USA TODAY loyalists people who have kind of been on the platform for a while? Or is it opening up kind of a new audience that you haven't seen before? LSEG STREETEVENTS | www.lseg.com | Contact Us consent of LSEG. 'LSEG' and the LSEG logo are registered trademarks of LSEG and its affiliated companies. DECEMBER 09, 2025 / 2:45PM, TDAY.N - USA TODAY Co Inc at UBS Global Media and Communications Conference

Question: PK Keller - UBS AG - Analyst : Got it. And then kind of on expanding the business by entering new verticals, do you think this is kind of a new growth vector for you guys in terms of kind of driving all of the new digital revenue streams. Is opening new verticals and new types of content that hasn't previously been provided by you guys something that can drive growth going forward?

Question: PK Keller - UBS AG - Analyst : I love that you brought up video because video, I think, has been a large driver of kind of engagement and then monetization that kind of builds off of each other. You look at the kind of companies that offer short-form video, and they have super high engagement relative to kind of other media providers. How large do you think the video opportunity is for you guys across all of the applications?

Question: PK Keller - UBS AG - Analyst : Great. So you're transforming the company, going more digital than print for the first time ever. You have these new kind of revenue streams. And as part of that, you kind of recently rebranded from Gannett to USA TODAY. Is that kind of emblematic of kind of the new kind of growth vectors that you have?

Question: PK Keller - UBS AG - Analyst : Great. So I think you guys mentioned on the third quarter earnings call, you had a $100 million cost savings program that's now fully implemented. Can you just remind us kind of what costs were taken out of the business? How do you think about kind of cost reduction going forward?

Question: PK Keller - UBS AG - Analyst : Got it. So EBITDA growth in Q4, how do you think about EBITDA in 2026? I don't want to touch on guidance prematurely, but I'd love to hear some thoughts.

Question: PK Keller - UBS AG - Analyst : Great. So taking out costs, I think you've also been very focused from a capital allocation perspective recently on kind of taking out debt. Do you think that's still the focus going forward? LSEG STREETEVENTS | www.lseg.com | Contact Us consent of LSEG. 'LSEG' and the LSEG logo are registered trademarks of LSEG and its affiliated companies. DECEMBER 09, 2025 / 2:45PM, TDAY.N - USA TODAY Co Inc at UBS Global Media and Communications Conference

Question: PK Keller - UBS AG - Analyst : Got it. So I believe roughly a year ago, you guys sold some kind of assets based in Austin, Texas. How do you think about kind of asset sales going forward? Would that be more focused on the print side? Or does it kind of matter? It's just the kind of price that you guys are getting and the value you're getting that is the driving factor?

Question: PK Keller - UBS AG - Analyst : Great. So I guess, on the opposite, but same angle of that, how about acquisitions and kind of adding new networks?

Question: PK Keller - UBS AG - Analyst : Great. And I meant -- touched on this earlier, but I think Newsquest has been growing very well in the UK. Can you kind of talk about what has kind of driven that outsized growth and how you expect that to go going forward? LSEG STREETEVENTS | www.lseg.com | Contact Us consent of LSEG. 'LSEG' and the LSEG logo are registered trademarks of LSEG and its affiliated companies. DECEMBER 09, 2025 / 2:45PM, TDAY.N - USA TODAY Co Inc at UBS Global Media and Communications Conference

Question: PK Keller - UBS AG - Analyst : Great. So I guess, kind of lastly, do you have kind of any additional comments or insights you'd like to leave with investors to kind of reinforce the optimism that you guys have for the business?

Question: PK Keller - UBS AG - Analyst : Great. Why don't we leave it there? All right. Thanks, Trisha.