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Publisher Elizabeth Hughes Says Inquirer Had “First Year-Over-Year Increase in Revenue” in More than Two Decades
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Inquirer publisher Elizabeth Hughes has the Sunday byline on a column titled “There is a viable path for Pittsburgh to save its newspaper. Here’s how we did it with The Inquirer.“
In the story, she notes that the Inquirer recently enjoyed a revenue increase for the first time in more than two decades:
There are 200 journalists in our newsroom, and the journalism produced every day is impressive and innovative, deep and local. In the end, that is what people will pay for. And the business results? The Inquirer in 2025 had its first year-over-year increase in revenue since 2004, and an operating profit of several million.
The majority of our revenue, 70%, comes from consumer marketing, which means people are paying for our journalism; 19% is from advertising, which signals that local businesses and institutions find merit in supporting us; and 5% from syndication and other partnerships. Philanthropy accounted for 6% of revenue in 2025, and we project donor contributions ranging from 6% to 10% going forward.
This is good to hear considering the state of the journalism business, with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ceasing publication and the Jeff Bezos-owned WaPo preparing for significant cuts.
Things were really rocky for the Inquirer between 2014 and 2024. You had the ownership dispute, the splintering that resulted in the formation of PhillyVoice, the BLM employee revolt, and mass buyout rounds that saw bulk staff turnover. They were a little slow on the print-to-digital evolution but seem to have figured it out now. Subscription prices I personally think are a little too high (we pay $40 a month), and the stories have the same amount of ads as non-paywall websites, but if you believe in local journalism then it’s a price you’re willing to pay considering the shit status of legacy media in other big cities.
Hughes has been at the helm since 2020. She took over after Terry Egger retired and also writes this in her column:
Redemption began with a visionary philanthropist, H.F. “Gerry” Lenfest, who set out to save The Inquirer and provided the wherewithal to do it. He established the Lenfest Institute for Journalism, our nonprofit owner, and pursued an innovative tax structure that created a for-profit Inquirer with a separate board. Both are the indispensable keys to our stability and success.
Philly is a unique case, and it’s funny to think about this as replicable. All you need to keep your legacy media publication going is a generational philanthropist to ride in on a winged-horse and save the day! People like Gerry Lenfest don’t grow on trees, but funny enough, here comes an investor group to possibly buy the PPG and turn it into a non-profit, according to Ryan Deto and Chrissy Suttles at Axios:
Kevin Acklin, the former president of business of the Pittsburgh Penguins and chief of staff under former Mayor Bill Peduto, tells Axios he is assembling a team of investors to attempt to preserve the Post-Gazette by converting it into a nonprofit.
He said he had a “good opening conversation” about the prospect with Allan Block, CEO of Block Communications, which owns the Post-Gazette.
“We feel strongly that converting to a nonprofit is a very attractive alternative to shutting down the Post-Gazette,” he tells Axios. “I am hopeful he and the rest of the present ownership group recognize the importance of the paper to the ongoing vitality of our city and see the value of engaging.”
No matter what happens with the PPG, one thing is certain. The Pirates will be shit. But even shit teams need at least one beat writer, don’t they?
The biggest challenge for the Inquirer, I think, is engaging moderates and conservatives. Right or wrong, fair or not, there are a ton of people in these parts who see the Inky as a liberal rag in one of the country’s most liberal cities. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve talked to who say they refuse to subscribe for that reason, but would reconsider if the sports section was offered as an ala carte digital option, comparable in price to something like The Athletic. No clue if that’s a business pursuit that makes sense, for example, how many full-price subscribers would ditch that sub to get the cheaper sports-only sub? Regardless, you’d bring back to the table conservative Eagles and Phillies fans in the suburbs, and there are a lot of them.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com