The St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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.
- Company typePublic
- Founded1878
- HeadquartersSt Louis, United States
- Headcount501–1,000
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingDigital Commerce or Content
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.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch firmographics
Firmographics- 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
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch industry classification
Industry- 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
Where The St. Louis Post-Dispatch is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- St Louis
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Digital Commerce or Content
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- 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).
- 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.
- Classified Advertising: Classified ads including obituaries (via Legacy.com partnership), jobs, homes, and marketplace listings.
- News+ Premium: Ad-free unlimited digital access subscription upgrade offering enhanced reading experience without internet advertising disruption.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Weekly | Tuesday-Sunday Full Week Subscription |
| Subscription | Weekly | Sunday + Tuesday-Friday Subscription |
| Subscription | Weekly | Tuesday-Friday Weekday Subscription |
| Subscription | Weekly | Thursday-Sunday Subscription |
| Subscription | Weekly | Friday-Sunday Weekend Subscription |
| Subscription | Weekly | Saturday-Sunday Only |
| Subscription | Weekly | Sunday Only |
| Subscription | Monthly | News+ Ad-Free Upgrade |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels7 records
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch product offering
Product offeringCore 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.
Companies that use The St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Customer profileSegments2 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration5 records
Feature3 records
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- Google (DoubleClick for Publishers)coreThird-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
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect 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
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch social profiles
Digital presenceThe St. Louis Post-Dispatch financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&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
What does The St. Louis Post-Dispatch do?
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.
Is The St. Louis Post-Dispatch a public or private company?
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch is a public company. It is classified as public and is currently operating.
When was The St. Louis Post-Dispatch founded?
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch was founded in 1878. It employs 501 to 1,000 people.
Where is The St. Louis Post-Dispatch based?
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch is headquartered in St Louis, United States, in the North America region.
How does The St. Louis Post-Dispatch make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Subscription Revenue is the primary driver. The others are digital Advertising, classified Advertising and news+ Premium.
Who are The St. Louis Post-Dispatch's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are The Kansas City Star, The Indianapolis Star, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Chicago Tribune, The Dallas Morning News and The Boston Globe. Broad incumbents are Gannett | USA Today Network and The New York Times Company. Emerging players are Patch.com and Axios.
Does The St. Louis Post-Dispatch have an API?
No public API is recorded for The St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
What industry is The St. Louis Post-Dispatch in?
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch's product category is Local Newspaper Publishing. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPAJADAB, Local & Regional Newspapers (Print & Digital). Its NAICS code is 513110 and its SIC code is 2711.