USA Today's Google Ad Lawsuit Clears a Hurdle With $2.7 Billion on the Line

Google tried to shut down USA Today's antitrust case before a jury ever heard it. It failed. A federal judge denied the search giant's motion for summary judgment, clearing the publisher's claims to proceed toward a trial set for April 5, 2027.

The numbers are lopsided next to the company's size. USA Today estimates damages from Google's advertising practices at around $900 million through 2024, a figure CEO Mike Reed expects to update before trial. Under U.S. antitrust law, treble damages could push that to $2.7 billion — against a company sitting at roughly a $1 billion market cap.

The case rides on the Justice Department's 2023 suit, which accused Google's Ad Exchange of 15 years of conduct that drove out rivals, inflated advertising costs and reduced revenues for news publishers. A federal judge sided with the DOJ and ordered changes to Google's ad practices. USA Today, the country's largest news publisher, filed its own monopolization claims on top of that.

USA Today has stacked the deck on counsel. The company is represented by Kellogg Hansen, the antitrust firm behind the largest and second-largest antitrust victories in the U.S., and it's handling the case on contingency. Christine Bartholomew, an antitrust law professor at the University at Buffalo, told Bloomberg Law that most antitrust cases settle statistically — though Google has the resources to fight to a verdict.

Citigroup analysts recently estimated a $690 million settlement. That would matter a lot for a balance sheet still carrying scars from the 2019 merger of New Media Investment Group and Gannett, which valued Gannett at $1.4 billion and left the combined company with close to $1.8 billion in debt from Apollo Global Management. Net debt now sits near $885 million, with enterprise value around $1.88 billion and quarterly interest expense above $20 million.

The core business is still in transition. USA Today now leans on digital subscriptions, digital advertising, marketing services for small and medium-sized businesses, and licensing its content to large AI companies, while print keeps shrinking. Management wants digital revenue to top 50% of the total by 2027. Shares traded at $7.03, up 2.4%, at 1:36 PM ET on Nov. 13, 2026.