The St. Louis Post-Dispatch

What The St. Louis Post-Dispatch does

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch is a daily regional newspaper serving the St. Louis metropolitan area and the broader Missouri market, operating continuously since its 1878 founding by Joseph Pulitzer. The publication is owned and operated by Lee Enterprises, Incorporated (NASDAQ: LEE), a Delaware-incorporated media holding company headquartered in Davenport, Iowa, which runs the Post-Dispatch as its flagship St. Louis property alongside a portfolio of other regional newspaper titles. Headcount is 501-1000 employees, with offices anchored at 901 N. 10th Street, St. Louis, MO, and centralized customer service reachable at 1-314-340-8888.

The Post-Dispatch distributes news through both print and digital channels. The print newspaper is published Tuesday through Sunday and reaches subscribers via home delivery; the digital platform, stltoday.com, is built on the BLOX content management system from bloxdigital.com and provides online access to local news, sports coverage (St. Louis Cardinals, Blues, STL City SC, plus college programs including Mizzou, Illini, and SLU), weather, classifieds, obituaries, opinion/editorials, and lifestyle content. The product portfolio extends to an e-edition PDF replica of the print edition, native iOS and Android mobile applications, curated email newsletters, multimedia podcasts (including "Best Podcast in Baseball"), Puzzmo-integrated digital puzzles and comics, a marketplace for local business listings and classifieds, and digital archives stretching back to the paper's founding. Brand Ave. Studios produces sponsored and branded content (Nurses, Stories of Honor, Teacher Appreciation, College Connection, STL Headliner Awards), and obituaries are distributed through a Legacy.com partnership.

Revenue is generated through a hybrid of recurring subscriptions and advertising. Subscription tiers span $9.99 per week (Sunday-only) to $38.24 per week (full Tuesday-Sunday bundle with print and digital access), with a non-refundable $6.99 setup fee and an optional News+ add-on that removes digital advertising from the reading experience. Advertising revenue includes behavior-based programmatic ad serving via Google DoubleClick for Publishers, classified listings (jobs, homes, marketplace), obituary sponsorship through Legacy.com, and the Brand Ave. Studios native-advertising unit. Analytics are run through Google Analytics and Adobe Analytics, and the site surfaces an AI Answers widget as a thin layer of generative AI-assisted discovery on top of the legacy archive and CMS stack.

Name

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Legal name

Lee Enterprises, Incorporated

Website

https://stltoday.com

Company type

Public

Founded year

1878

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch is a legacy daily regional newspaper owned by Lee Enterprises, serving the St. Louis metro and Missouri with local news, sports, weather, and classifieds through a Tuesday-Sunday print edition and the stltoday.com digital platform, monetized via consumer subscriptions and advertising.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Local Newspaper Publishing

NAICS

Newspaper Publishers (513110)

SIC

Newspapers: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2711)

akta.pro primary industry

Local & Regional Newspapers (Print & Digital) (MPAJADAB)

Keywords

• Local news publishing
• Digital newspaper subscriptions
• Classified advertising
• Sports journalism
• Breaking news coverage

Headquarters

HQ city

St Louis

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Subscription Revenue: Digital subscriptions and print delivery subscriptions with various tiers including Tuesday-Sunday full access, Sunday-only, and mid-week options. Auto-renewal with EZ Pay or debit banking (ACH).
2. Digital Advertising: Behavior-based advertising through third-party networks including Google DoubleClick for Publishers. Targeted ads based on browsing history and user interactions across sites.
3. Classified Advertising: Classified ads including obituaries (via Legacy.com partnership), jobs, homes, and marketplace listings.
4. News+ Premium: Ad-free unlimited digital access subscription upgrade offering enhanced reading experience without internet advertising disruption.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch publishes a regional daily newspaper (online continuously and in print Tuesday through Sunday) and operates stltoday.com as its flagship digital platform, delivering St. Louis and Missouri local news, sports (Cardinals, Blues, STL City SC, Mizzou), weather, obituaries, opinion, entertainment, and classified advertising. Its subscription offering is tiered across digital-only and combined digital-plus-print bundles, with a premium News+ upgrade that removes advertising, supported by an E-Edition PDF replica, native mobile apps, email newsletters, and podcasts.

Product overview

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, owned by Lee Enterprises, operates stltoday.com as its primary digital platform alongside print and E-Edition offerings. The product portfolio centers on the core stltoday.com news platform providing local St. Louis and Missouri coverage across news, sports (Cardinals, Blues, MLS), entertainment, weather, and community content. Subscription access is tiered through Digital Only, Digital+Print, and premium News+ (ad-free) options. The offering extends through E-Edition (digital newspaper replica), mobile apps, email newsletters, podcasts including Best Podcast in Baseball, a Marketplace for local classifieds and business listings, comics and puzzles, and a subscriber management portal for account and subscription services.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• stltoday.com Digital News Platform The flagship digital platform for The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, providing online access to St. Louis and Missouri local news, sports (Cardinals, Blues, STL City SC, Mizzou), weather, entertainment, opinion, and community content for general news consumers in the St. Louis metro and Missouri.
• Digital + Print Subscription Combined print and digital subscription providing home delivery of the physical newspaper plus full digital access to stltoday.com. Available in multiple delivery frequency options including Tuesday-Sunday ($38.24/week), Sunday + Tuesday-Friday ($23.99/week), Tuesday-Friday ($21.24/week), Thursday-Sunday ($18.99/week), Friday-Sunday ($17.49/week), Saturday-Sunday ($12.24/week), and Sunday Only ($9.99/week).
• Digital Only Subscription Digital-only access to stltoday.com content, including unlimited digital access to news articles, videos, podcasts, and multimedia across all devices. Targets readers in the St. Louis metro and Missouri who consume news primarily through digital channels.
• News+ Premium Upgrade Premium upgrade providing ad-free unlimited digital access to stltoday.com on any device including the mobile app, removing internet-only advertising from the reading experience. Does not extend to third-party content, social media feed, podcasts, or Classified Advertising.
• E-Edition Digital Newspaper Replica Digital PDF replica of the physical newspaper, updated daily, allowing subscribers to view the complete print edition online including classifieds and print advertisements.
• St. Louis Post-Dispatch Mobile Apps Native mobile applications for iOS and Android providing a customized reading experience, push notifications for breaking news, and full digital access for subscribers on smartphones and tablets.
• Email Newsletters Curated email newsletter products delivering breaking news alerts and topic-specific content summaries directly to subscribers' inboxes.
• Podcasts Audio content including Best Podcast in Baseball covering St. Louis Cardinals baseball (hosted by Derrick Goold), plus additional sports and news podcasts produced by Post-Dispatch journalists.
• Local Marketplace and Classifieds Local business directory and classified advertising platform featuring marketplace listings, place profiles for local businesses, jobs, homes, and obituaries. Obituaries are distributed through a partnership with Legacy.com.
• Digital Newspaper Archives Historical newspaper archives providing access to thousands of past articles, obituaries, and historical announcements dating back to the newspaper's 1878 founding.

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Google (DoubleClick for Publishers)coreTechnology or IntegrationThird-party advertising network partner providing behavior-based advertising technology and ad serving across the website. Collects user browsing information to deliver targeted advertisements tailored to user interests.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• The Kansas City Star: Flagship regional newspaper also operated by Lee Enterprises in a similar Midwest metro; uses the same BLOX CMS, dual digital/print subscription model, and TownNews e-edition product, making it the closest operational comparable.
• The Indianapolis Star: Another Lee Enterprises Midwest regional daily with the same subscription tiering, marketplace, and classifieds stack; operates as a directly comparable sister publication within the parent company's portfolio.
• Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Midwest metro newspaper combining daily print, digital subscription, classifieds, and extensive local sports coverage — virtually identical go-to-market model and target reader profile to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
• Chicago Tribune: Major Midwest regional daily owned by Alden Global Capital's Tribune Publishing; operates a paid digital subscription, E-edition, mobile apps, and newsletters targeting a similar professional and sports-fan audience.
• The Dallas Morning News: Large regional U.S. daily with combined home-delivery and digital subscription tiers, deep local sports coverage, and a digital marketplace — overlaps closely in subscription structure and revenue mix.
• The Boston Globe: Premium regional daily with a digital-only subscription product and E-edition, similar beats in local politics and professional sports, and a comparable reader base of metro-area professionals.

Broad incumbents

• Gannett | USA Today Network: Largest U.S. local-news operator (publisher of USA Today and hundreds of regional dailies including AZ Republic, AZ Central, and Des Moines Register); competes for digital subscriptions, classifieds, and ad spend nationwide but operates at much greater scale.
• The New York Times Company: National incumbent that increasingly competes for digital subscription dollars and digital ad spend even outside its core geography; offers a relevant benchmark on subscription pricing, churn, and digital ARPU for premium news.

Emerging players

• Patch.com: Digital-native hyper-local news network covering thousands of U.S. communities; competes for local-news audience attention and SMB advertising dollars with a fundamentally different (free, ad-supported) model.
• Axios: Digital-native newsletter-led news brand with local Axios Local editions pursuing subscription and B2B sponsorship revenue from the same professional reader audience that regional newspapers target.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/stltoday
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/STLPostDispatch
• Facebookfacebook.com/STLPD
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/st.-louis-post-dispatch
• Instagraminstagram.com/stltoday
• TikToktiktok.com/@stlouispostdispatch
• Pinterestpinterest.com/stltoday

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The St. Louis Post-Dispatch