The Palo Alto Weekly is the largest circulation newspaper serving the Midpeninsula area, publishing every Friday and distributed by mail and newsracks to 35,000 local residents in Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Portola Valley, Atherton, East Palo Alto, Stanford and Los Altos Hills. It is proud to be the community sponsor of Shop Palo Alto.

Editorially, the Palo Alto Weekly covers a wide spectrum of topics, from civic and political news and commentary to feature stories on people and issues to arts and entertainment events. The newspaper has received numerous awards for excellence in writing, reporting, graphics and advertising. It has won the coveted general excellence awards for large-circulation weekly newspapers more than 10 times by the California Newspaper Publishers Association.

Recognizing its role as an important community institution, the Weekly works closely with local charitable organizations and other groups. Each year, the paper donates thousands of dollars in advertising space and co-sponsors a number of major fund-raising and other community events. Its annual Moonlight Run and Holiday Fund campaign raises approximately a quarter million dollars a year which is distributed as grants to local non-profit organizations. As of 2010, the Fund had dispersed over $4 million.

In January, 1994, the Weekly became the first newspaper in the country to publish on the World Wide Web.  This presence was greatly expanded in 1996 with the launch of Palo Alto Online, providing extensive information about the community and opportunities for residents to express their opinions on local topics. Some 130,000 unique visitors come to Palo Alto Online each month, with many actively participating in the popular “Town Square” online community forum launched in 2006. Palo Alto Online was judged the best Web site by the California Newspaper Publishers Association in 2010.

The Palo Alto Weekly is owned by Embarcadero Media, a company founded by publisher and Palo Alto native Bill Johnson and a group of local shareholders. The newspaper began publishing in October, 1979, five months after the Tribune Co. of Chicago created the Peninsula Times Tribune through the merger of the Palo Alto Times and Redwood City Tribune (now defunct.)

Embarcadero Media also owns The Almanac, a weekly newspaper serving Menlo Park, Atherton, Woodside and Portola Valley, the Mountain View Voice, Pleasanton Weekly and the Pacific Sun in Marin County. It operates community websites in each of those communities, as well as in Danville and San Ramon.