Is Grupo Prisa profitable in 2025?

No. Grupo Prisa reported a net loss of 27 million euros for FY2025, wider than the 12 million euro loss in 2024, despite operating revenue of 904 million euros and EBITDA of 163 million euros, per its results report dated February 24, 2026.

Who owns Grupo Prisa?

Grupo Prisa is publicly listed on the Madrid stock exchange under BMAD:PRS but is effectively controlled by activist investor Joseph Oughourlian through his fund Amber Capital, which has held roughly 30% of shares; he has chaired the board since 2021.

Could AI replace El Pais?

Unlikely soon. Prisa's own management admits AI is driving sector-wide traffic declines, but El Pais grew digital subscribers 12% to 451,304 by end-2025 and signed content licensing deals with OpenAI in March 2024 and Perplexity in 2024 to monetize AI exposure.

Is Grupo Prisa cutting jobs?

Group-wide headcount fell to 7,242 professionals in 2025 from 7,295 in 2024, and the company booked 14.6 million euros in severance costs in FY2025 tied to a PRISA Media reorganization, per its February 2026 results report.

Who are Grupo Prisa's biggest competitors?

In news, El Mundo and La Vanguardia rival flagship paper El Pais, which ranked fourth among Spain's most-read digital newspapers per 2025 GfK DAM data cited on Wikipedia; in radio, Grupo COPE and Onda Cero compete with Cadena SER.

Is Grupo Prisa's debt a concern for investors?

Yes, leverage remains a strain: net debt stood at 757 million euros at end-2025, down about 18% since 2022, after a May 2025 refinancing pushed maturities to 2029; the company also executed a 1-for-10 reverse stock split effective July 10, 2026.

Broadcast and traditional media · Spain

Grupo Prisa

prisa.com ↗

Spanish media group behind El País, Cadena SER radio, and Santillana textbooks.

Losing its protection

Assessed 24 July 2026 · Evidence as of 24 July 2026

The structural protection is eroding.

On the recordSince 24 July 2026 · Checkable from February 2027 · Every call on the record Checkpoint: FY2026 results report on subscriber growth, traffic trends, and net debt/EBITDA ratio

The call

Prisa's textbook and radio businesses keep the balance sheet standing while El País tries to grow subscribers faster than AI-driven traffic pressure builds.

Grupo Prisa owns news websites and magazines (El País, AS), a major radio station (Cadena SER), and a school textbook and software business (Santillana). The news side faces real danger from AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Perplexity, which answer questions and summarize stories without sending readers to Prisa's websites, while rivals like El Mundo and La Vanguardia fight for the same shrinking audience. The company is propped up by Santillana's strong growth in digital learning subscriptions, but if El País cannot keep readers and subscribers as AI tools become the first place people look for information, the entire company's shaky finances could collapse.

Why

AI pressure: Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity summarizing news instead of linking to it. AI answers could cut the click-through traffic ad revenue relies on, but subscriber growth has kept pace so far. Could AI do the core job? Only partly.

Bigger players: Google. Google's AI Overviews already answer search queries directly, reducing the referral traffic El País counts on. Could a giant copy it? Probably.

What protects it. Santillana's government textbook contracts and Cadena SER's broadcast licenses bring steady cash that AI can't easily replace.

What would change this call

El País digital subscriber growth rate in the next annual report (2026 results). A drop below 5% growth would show the news trust moat weakening against AI-driven traffic shifts.
PRISA Media EBITDA figure in FY2026 results versus the €50m reported for 2025. A further decline would show radio and news ad revenue losing ground to COPE, Onda Cero, or digital rivals.
Net debt/EBITDA ratio reported at 2026 year end versus the 4.6x level cited for 2025. Failure to fall below 3.9x would show refinancing risk rising as underlying business pressure persists.

Key numbers

El País digital subscribers 451,304, up 12% YoY (2025-12-31)
Net debt €757 million, down 18% since 2022 (2025-12-31)
FY2025 net loss €27 million, versus €12m loss in 2024 (2025-12-31)

Named risks

High leverage with 757m euros net debt and reliance on 2026-2029 plan execution to cut debt/EBITDA below 3.9x. Severity: high
AI-driven traffic decline across the news industry, acknowledged directly by Prisa management. Severity: high
Continued net losses (27m euros in FY2025) despite revenue near 1 billion euros. Severity: medium
FX exposure to Latin American currencies materially swinging reported results. Severity: medium
1-for-10 reverse stock split effective July 2026 signals prior share price deterioration. Severity: medium

Rivals, as read in July 2026

Rival	Direction	Evidence
El Mundo	contesting	El Pais ranked fourth among Spain's most-read digital newspapers per 2025 GfK DAM data
La Vanguardia	contesting	Direct rival in Spanish general-interest digital news, outranking El Pais in some 2025 measures
Grupo COPE	contesting	Cadena SER hit 4,892,000 daily listeners in 2025, its highest in 12 years, vs domestic radio rivals
OpenAI and Perplexity (AI answer engines)	gaining on	Prisa signed licensing deals in 2024 to monetize AI content use amid sector-wide traffic pressure

Questions people ask

Is Grupo Prisa profitable in 2025?: No. Grupo Prisa reported a net loss of 27 million euros for FY2025, wider than the 12 million euro loss in 2024, despite operating revenue of 904 million euros and EBITDA of 163 million euros, per its results report dated February 24, 2026.
Who owns Grupo Prisa?: Grupo Prisa is publicly listed on the Madrid stock exchange under BMAD:PRS but is effectively controlled by activist investor Joseph Oughourlian through his fund Amber Capital, which has held roughly 30% of shares; he has chaired the board since 2021.
Could AI replace El Pais?: Unlikely soon. Prisa's own management admits AI is driving sector-wide traffic declines, but El Pais grew digital subscribers 12% to 451,304 by end-2025 and signed content licensing deals with OpenAI in March 2024 and Perplexity in 2024 to monetize AI exposure.
Is Grupo Prisa cutting jobs?: Group-wide headcount fell to 7,242 professionals in 2025 from 7,295 in 2024, and the company booked 14.6 million euros in severance costs in FY2025 tied to a PRISA Media reorganization, per its February 2026 results report.
Who are Grupo Prisa's biggest competitors?: In news, El Mundo and La Vanguardia rival flagship paper El Pais, which ranked fourth among Spain's most-read digital newspapers per 2025 GfK DAM data cited on Wikipedia; in radio, Grupo COPE and Onda Cero compete with Cadena SER.
Is Grupo Prisa's debt a concern for investors?: Yes, leverage remains a strain: net debt stood at 757 million euros at end-2025, down about 18% since 2022, after a May 2025 refinancing pushed maturities to 2029; the company also executed a 1-for-10 reverse stock split effective July 10, 2026.

Timeline

2026-06-29AGM approved capital reduction and 1-for-10 reverse stock split
2026-06-28Shareholders back board 99.9%; 2026-2029 Strategic Plan guidance issued
2026-03-30PRISA Media launches SabIA AI content-management platform
2026-02-24FY2025 results: revenue 904m euros, net loss 27m euros
2025-12Francisco Cuadrado resigns as director, Santillana Executive Chairman
2025-05Pilar Gil appointed CEO of PRISA Media
2025-05Debt refinancing extends maturities to 2029
2024-03PRISA Media signs content-licensing deal with OpenAI
2024PRISA Media announces content-licensing deal with Perplexity AI
2023130 million euros mandatorily convertible subordinated notes issued

Revision history

24 July 2026

First assessed. Losing its protection. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.

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