The Daily Star

What The Daily Star does

The Daily Star is Bangladesh's largest English-language daily newspaper, founded in 1991 and headquartered in Dhaka. It operates a multi-platform news business spanning print, a main website (thedailystar.net), a Bengali-language sister site (bangla.thedailystar.net), and an e-paper platform (epaper.thedailystar.net), covering news, politics, governance, business, sports, culture, lifestyle, and youth content. The publication also runs premium sections under the DS+ banner, including investigative stories, roundtables, and supplements, and maintains an extensive archive.

The company generates revenue through two primary streams: advertising (evidenced by a dedicated advertisement section on its site) and recurring subscriptions covering both print newspaper sales and digital/e-paper access. Distribution is direct-to-consumer, reaching general public readers in Bangladesh as well as the Bangladeshi diaspora globally. The publication additionally positions itself as a convening platform for policy discourse, hosting events such as the November 2025 'From Risk to Resilience' climate-risk insurance roundtable with the World Food Programme and OXFAM at The Daily Star Centre in Dhaka, and conducting diaspora engagement forums abroad.

In December 2025, the company demonstrated operational resilience when its head office was attacked and set ablaze during coordinated unrest, causing approximately Tk 40 crore (~$2 million) in damage; it resumed publication within 15 hours under the headline 'Unbowed'. Ownership is private with Editor and Publisher Mahfuz Anam as the named leader. No funding rounds, parent company, or public listing have been disclosed, and the underlying technology stack is not publicly detailed.

Name

The Daily Star

Legal name

The Daily Star

Website

https://thedailystar.net

Company type

Private

Founded year

1991

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

The Daily Star is Bangladesh's largest English-language daily newspaper, founded in 1991 and headquartered in Dhaka. It publishes across print, website, and e-paper, serving general readers in Bangladesh and the global Bangladeshi diaspora with news, business, sports, culture, and opinion coverage funded by advertising and subscriptions.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Newspaper Publishing

NAICS

Newspaper Publishers (513110), Newspaper Publishers (51311)

SIC

Newspapers: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2711)

akta.pro primary industry

National & General-Interest Newspapers (Print & Digital) (MPAJADAA)

Keywords

• English-language newspaper
• Daily news publication
• Digital news platform
• Print journalism
• News media

Headquarters

HQ city

Dhaka

HQ country

Bangladesh

HQ region

Asia

Offices2 records

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. Advertising: The newspaper generates revenue through advertising, as evidenced by the dedicated advertisement section on its website.
2. Print and Digital Subscriptions: Revenue from print newspaper sales and digital subscription services including e-paper access.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

The Daily Star publishes Bangladesh's largest English-language national daily newspaper, distributed in print and across digital channels. The newspaper provides comprehensive coverage of Bangladeshi and international news, politics, governance, business, sports, culture, lifestyle, youth content, and opinion, and operates a digital E-Paper platform that replicates the print edition for online and mobile readers. It also maintains a Bengali-language digital edition for Bangla-speaking readers.

Product overview

The Daily Star operates as Bangladesh's largest English-language newspaper, offering a unified news platform across print and digital channels. The core product is the main newspaper publication, complemented by a digital E-Paper version for online readers. The portfolio includes coverage across news, opinion, business, sports, lifestyle, culture, and specialized sections like DS+ for premium content.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• The Daily Star (National Daily Newspaper) Bangladesh's leading English-language national daily newspaper offering breaking news, politics, business, sports, culture, lifestyle, and opinion content across print and digital platforms, targeted at English-speaking general readers in Bangladesh and the Bangladeshi diaspora.
• The Daily Star E-Paper Digital replica of The Daily Star's print edition allowing subscribers to read the newspaper online with full layout fidelity on desktop and mobile devices.

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• World Food Programme (WFP)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 26 November 2025The Daily Star co-organized a roundtable titled 'From Risk to Resilience' with the World Food Programme and OXFAM at The Daily Star Centre in Dhaka to discuss mainstreaming climate risk insurance into Bangladesh's national resilience framework.
• OXFAMminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 26 November 2025Jointly organized a climate risk insurance roundtable with The Daily Star and WFP, bringing together participants from Green Delta Insurance, Sadharan Bima Corporation, FAO, UNDP, and government ministries to discuss pilot programs protecting farmers and vulnerable populations.
• Queen Mary University of LondonminorGTM or Marketing PartnerHost institution for The Daily Star's interactive discussion with the Bangladeshi diaspora in London, marking the beginning of a sustained effort to deepen the newspaper's engagement with overseas readers.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Prothom Alo: Bangladesh's largest Bangla-language daily newspaper and The Daily Star's primary competitor in the domestic market. Both papers were targeted in the coordinated December 2025 arson attacks, and they compete directly for advertising spend and readership across Bangladesh's news media landscape.
• Dhaka Tribune: English-language daily newspaper based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Operates a similar digital-first publishing model targeting English-speaking Bangladeshi readers, advertisers, and the diaspora — directly overlapping The Daily Star's core audience and advertiser base.
• The Business Standard: English-language daily newspaper in Bangladesh focused on business and policy coverage. Competes for the same English-speaking professional readership, advertising budget, and subscription wallet as The Daily Star's DS+ and Business sections.
• Daily Sun: Bangladesh-based English-language daily newspaper. Competes directly with The Daily Star for English-speaking readers, advertising, and digital subscriptions within the same domestic market.
• New Age (Bangladesh): English-language daily newspaper published in Dhaka. Positioned in the same English-reading segment with overlapping editorial coverage and advertiser base, making it a direct peer for benchmarking readership and ad rates.
• Dawn: Pakistan's flagship English-language daily newspaper. Operates an analogous print + digital model serving South Asian English-speaking readers and the Pakistani diaspora, making it a strong regional peer for editorial positioning and revenue mix benchmarking.
• The Daily Observer (Bangladesh): Long-established English-language daily in Bangladesh. Competes for the same English-reading audience and advertisers, and provides a useful comparison point for The Daily Star's domestic market share trajectory.

Broad incumbents

• The Hindu: One of India's largest and most established English-language dailies. Operates a broadly similar editorial and multi-platform model serving English-speaking readers in South Asia, but at materially greater scale and with a deeper archive and premium subscription product.
• Hindustan Times: Major Indian English-language daily newspaper with national reach and a digital subscription model. Comparable to The Daily Star in editorial positioning (premium English journalism) but operates across multiple cities and a much larger advertising market.

Emerging players

• bdnews24.com: Bangladesh-focused digital-first news outlet publishing in both English and Bangla. Represents the digital-native competitive threat to The Daily Star's web and e-paper products, particularly for time-sensitive news and younger reader segments.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/dailystarnews
• Xx.com/dailystarnews
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCs-8VeJk3VllGv18Go5Xk8w

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

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 Daily Star