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Printing The Onion

While not profitable yet, The Onion is making money with subscriptions to its print edition.

Filled with spoof ads and satirical headlines that often take swings at the news of the day, the Onion has more than 53,000 subscribers paying as much as $9 a month. The publication has a new deal to sell its papers at Barnes & Noble, and is expecting about $6 million in revenue this year—up from less than $2 million in early 2024.

The Onion isn’t profitable, but Chief Executive Ben Collins aims to turn a profit next year. “People like getting something in the mail that’s not f—ing awful,” he said.

The publication’s results show that old-fashioned media products can find a niche despite changing reader habits and an unforgiving digital landscape.

PJH Studios artwork, Portrait of a sun

PJH Studios

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  • Printing The Onion

    While not profitable yet, The Onion is making money with subscriptions to its print edition. Filled with spoof ads and satirical headlines that often take swings at the news of the day, the Onion has more than 53,000 subscribers paying as much as $9 a month. The publication has a new deal to sell its…

  • Robot rentals assisting human workers

    Industrial robots are becoming more affordable for small and midsize companies, especially in situations where the companies can rent the machinery. The robots perform the repetitive, physically breaking work, allowing people to remain healthier and perform more valuable work. Buying a robot could cost as much as $500,000, and Mr. Calleja wasn’t even confident that…

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    As Banana Ball grows, where does it fit in the sports landscape with Major League Baseball? On a Friday night this summer, the New York Yankees packed Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles in a rematch of last year’s World Series. An hour south that same evening in Anaheim, another major-league stadium hosted a sold-out ballgame,…

  • Top 10 animal movie performances

    The Ringer proposes a top 10 list of animal movie performances. Amusing at the very least, and the top choice is, well, a choice.

  • Moving a Swedish church

    An amazing photo essay of moving an entire church in Kiruna, Sweden.

  • The Rise of the Groomzilla

    Perhaps because most of my friends are past the getting married stage of life, but apparently, groomzillas are a new trend. On subreddits like r/weddingshaming, you’ll find viral posts in which users vent about or seek advice on managing the groomzillas in their lives, like the groom who demanded his groomsmen spend more than $4,000…

  • The art of William Darkdrac

    William Darkdrac with some nostalgic surrealism. Google maps, 2024

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    Kevin Dickinson on the value of an unread library: Shelves of unexplored ideas propel us to continue reading, continue learning, and never be comfortable that we know enough. They provide the foundation for a healthy and robust intellectual humility.

  • Ocean carbon removal

    It feels like science fiction. Sinking carbon into the ocean to combat climate change. But that one on the key idea is to address the problem. Researchers are looking into a wide range of approaches to removing carbon from the atmosphere. Some are straightforwardly technical, like direct air capture in giant facilities can use massive…

  • Ice cream cone chocolate seal on a cake

    Ice cream cone chocolate seal on a cake