Bonnier News notches another strong business result, and CEO is bullish on 2026
In February, the company announced that it finished 2025 with an EBITA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, and Amortization) of SEK 1.08 billion (€101 million, +29% YoY) on revenue of SEK 10.9 billion (€1.02 billion, +3% YoY).
Bonnier News is one of Sweden’s leading news providers, with about 6,700 employees, including approximately 2,000 journalists. The company’s core consists of the daily newspapers Dagens Nyheter, Expressen and Dagens industri. The Bonnier News Local business area, established in 2020, today includes around 40 local newspapers, from Helsingborgs Dagblad and Sydsvenskan in the south, to Örnsköldsviks Allehanda in the north.
Strong growth in revenues, subscriptions
It’s impressive to see how the company has developed its business since Eriksson took over in 2016: that year, the company’s total revenue was SEK 4.7 billion (418 million euros), so that has more than doubled since his arrival. Thanks in large part to a massive, systematic transformation strategy.
Revenue from digital subscriptions in 2025 increased by 14 percent (YoY). The bundled subscription package +Allt had nearly 500,000 digital subscribers by the end of the year and contributed to higher subscription volumes and average prices throughout the year. In total, just over 1.1 million subscribers now have access to +Allt, including print subscribers.
“The reader revenue has grown steadily – the share of total revenue has increased from around 57% to 62% in the last three years, while at the same time that our total revenue has grown considerably,” he told us. “About half of our reader revenue comes from pure digital. The other half is a combination of single copy sales, print subscriptions and print/digital bundle subscriptions, which is the clear majority of that half.”
We often hear about subscription fatigue in the Nordic markets, but Eriksson remains optimistic. “We certainly feel that there is further potential for growth in digital subscriptions in Sweden/Nordics.”
He credits much of Bonnier’s ongoing success to the never-ending, necessary transformation he jump-started years ago.
“We have taken important steps in our transformation during the year and continue to see growth in our revenues,” he said in the announcement. “The fact that over 60 percent of these are now digital, with significantly higher profitability than print, is a strong signal and confirms the direction of our strategy. It is also gratifying that advertising revenues have held up well during the year despite a challenging market situation.”
Partnerships and acquisitions vital to strategy
Part of Bonnier’s strategy to strengthen its position in the region lies in acquisitions and partnerships. While its acquisition of Zetland in late 2025 might have grabbed a lot of attention globally, Bonnier also established cross-ownership and a partnership with Erna Media, and integrated the digital news service Readly into its operations.
“Partnerships and collaborations remain a key part of our strategy, and we see exciting journalism and development opportunities in both this year’s acquisition of the Danish membership model company Zetland and the Stockholm-area local newspaper Mitt i,” he said in the announcement.
Although Zetland joined the company late in the year and Eriksson said might be considered a small part of the group, “it is a very strong and innovative journalistic product with an audio-based membership model, which we hope we will be able to grow and develop together.”
Outside of reader revenue and advertising, Bonnier relies on about 16 percent of its overall revenue coming from a bucket of other revenue streams. On the business media side, Eriksson said its logistics, printing and distribution business brings in about 6 percent, its extensive events/network/ education business as well as industry vertical data/information business brings in about 5 percent, 3 percent from “other” revenue, and 2 percent from media subsidies.
Again, he said this year is already shaping up to be another banner result. “I believe 2026 will be an even stronger year for us. Our readership, engagement and subscription business continues to grow. We also hope for a bit stronger advertising market based on improved macro.”
More about Bonnier
Bonnier News also includes the former Bonnier Magazines & Brands, now part of the Expressen business area.
Bonnier News Business is the business area that in Sweden consists of the newspaper Dagens industri and about 20 trade publications; outside of Sweden, it includes a number of business newspapers in, among other countries, Denmark, Poland and Slovenia, as well as companies focused on education and professional services.
Since 2022, Bonnier Publications, which has magazine operations primarily in Denmark, has been a separate business area within Bonnier News. In the Bonnier News Logistics & Production business area, distribution and printing are carried out by brands such as Bold, Bonway and the e-commerce-driven Morgonexpressen.
