New York Times Co. Blog

Bulletin: NYT Co. reports Q2 financial results

2010-07-22T08:45:00.001-04:00

The NYT Co. has just moved its second-quarter financial statement on Business Wire. The New York Times has now moved a story. Following is an excerpt of the company's statement:

The New York Times Company announced today 2010 second-quarter results.

Total revenues increased 1.2 percent to $589.6 million in the second quarter of 2010 compared with the second quarter of 2009, an improvement from the first quarter 2010 decline of 3.2 percent compared with the first quarter of 2009.

Operating costs excluding depreciation, amortization and severance declined 3.7 percent in the second quarter of 2010 versus the second quarter of 2009. On a GAAP basis, the Company's operating costs declined 4.3 percent in the second quarter of 2010 versus the second quarter of 2009.

Operating profit excluding depreciation, amortization, severance and a special item in 2009 grew 39.4 percent to $92.6 million in the second quarter of 2010 compared with $66.4 million in the second quarter of 2009. On a GAAP basis, operating profit more than doubled to $60.8 million in the second quarter of 2010 compared with $23.5 million in the second quarter of 2009.

Diluted earnings per share from continuing operations excluding severance and the special items discussed below more than doubled to $.18 per share in the second quarter of 2010 compared with $.08 in the same period of 2009. On a GAAP basis, the Company had diluted earnings per share from continuing operations of $.21 per share in the second quarter of 2010 compared with $.27 in the second quarter of 2009.

The Company continues to manage its liquidity, reducing its debt and capital lease obligations, net of cash and cash equivalents by approximately one third to $670 million from its balance at the beginning of 2009, even after making pension contributions totaling $87.5 million in the second quarter of 2010. The majority of the Company's debt matures in 2015 or later.

"These positive results continued to build on the momentum of the past few quarters as the Company was able to increase revenues and decrease operating costs," said Janet L. Robinson, president and chief executive officer, The New York Times Company. "In the second quarter, total revenues increased 1 percent, reversing the first quarter 2010 decline of 3 percent, as we experienced positive trending in both print and digital advertising revenues.

"Solid growth in digital advertising revenues, which rose 21 percent, offset a 6 percent decrease in print advertising, and advertising revenues ended the quarter roughly flat compared with the second quarter of last year. Online advertising revenues have become a larger part of our mix and made up 26 percent of the Company's total advertising revenues in the 2010 second quarter, up from 22 percent in the same prior-year period.

"Based on the early part of the third quarter, third-quarter revenue trends for print advertising are expected to improve from the levels of the second quarter, while digital advertising is expected to trend in the mid to high teens. The low-single digit circulation revenue growth we experienced in the first part of 2010 is not expected to continue in the second half of the year, as we will be cycling past the June 2009 price increases at The New York Times and The Boston Globe and thus expect 3 to 5 percent declines in circulation revenues in the third quarter.

"The Company is well-positioned to thrive in the evolving media marketplace, thanks to the significant progress we are making in reinventing our enterprise. Despite an increasingly competitive environment and volatile economic conditions, we believe that by staying committed to our brand promise of high quality journalism that engages audiences with our content across multiple platforms, when and where they want it, we will ensure The New York Times Company remains a dominant force in the media landscape."

Top Pop | Beauty, van der Sloot, 'flash crash'

2010-06-08T13:50:00.001-04:00

[van der Sloot]

Most popular right now on the websites of:

The New York Times: Off runway, brazilian beauty goes beyond blond
USA Today: Joran van der Sloot confesses to killing Lima woman
The Wall Street Journal: DJIA slides under 'flash crash' low

Slow traffic ahead: Memorial Day and the Internet

2010-05-31T00:00:00.002-04:00

In my home state of Rhode Island, Memorial Day traditionally marks the start of beach-going season. Families head for the shore, opening beach houses for another summer away from scorching city temperatures. These days, I know something else that starts this three-day weekend: Internet traffic begins falling, and remains low during much of the summer, as more people vacation and stay away from the Web.

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

[Photo: bather at Pompano Beach, Fla., by Eric Thayer of The New York Times via Gawker]

In death, Gary Coleman's signature line lives on

2010-05-28T19:59:00.002-04:00

The sixth most-popular story on The New York Times's website right now: today's death of former child star Gary Coleman. He was 42.

Top Pop | Nelson's braids, oil spat and setback

2010-05-27T17:25:00.003-04:00

[Nelson]

Most popular right now on the websites of:

The New York Times: Setback delays ‘Top Kill’ effort to seal leaking oil well in Gulf
USA Today: Braids be gone: Willie Nelson gets a haircut
The Wall Street Journal: Big spat on rig preceded explosion

Boston | Ad chief Martin quits for Gannett post

2010-05-25T16:22:00.006-04:00

The Boston Globe's chief advertising officer, Senior Vice President Sam Martin (left), is leaving the company to become publisher of the Montgomery Advertiser, a small Alabama newspaper owned by the Gannett Co., which announced the appointment earlier today.

Martin is moving to a newspaper with a considerably smaller readership. The Globe's circulation is about 230,000 daily, and 379,000 on Sunday, according to the latest ABC figures, as of March 31. Montgomery's is just 35,827 daily, and 44,120 on Sunday.

At the Globe, Gannett says, Martin was responsible for the integrated sales of that daily, plus its Boston.com website, The Worcester Telegram & Gazette, Globe Direct and Metro Boston.

Martin had previously worked for Gannett as senior vice president of marketing at The Cincinnati Enquirer from, 1999-2002, and director of advertising at The News Journal in Wilmington, Del., from 1993-1999.

Stock | NYT Co. shares dive near 2010 lows

2010-05-25T14:53:00.002-04:00

The company's stock recently traded for $8.77 a share, down nearly 2%, and bringing it close to its year-to-date trading low of $8.39, set on Friday. Markets overall are being roiled by growing worries over conflict between North and South Korea, plus dim prospects for the European debt crisis.

Major market indexes are lower: The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 have both fallen about 1%.

Top Pop | Landis confessions, Valentino T-shirts

2010-05-20T23:32:00.002-04:00

[Landis]

Most popular right now on the websites of:

The New York Times: Landis admits doping, accuses top U.S. cyclists
The Wall Street Journal: The T-shirt, Valentino-style
USA Today: Floyd Landis comes clean, accuses Lance Armstrong

Stock | Publishers dip in broad market retreat

2010-05-20T12:40:00.001-04:00

Major newspaper publishers's stocks are following overall stock markets lower, on renewed investor worries over E.U. debt. Recent trading in stocks I follow:

Gannett: $14.79, down 3.3%
New York Times Co.: $8.52, down 6.5%
News Corp.: $15.04, down 4.8%

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 277 points, or 2.7%. The S&P 500 is down 33 points, or 3%.

The broad retreat is stocks, according to The Wall Street Journal, came on mounting worries over Europe's will to address its debt woes as unions went on strike in Greece and investors fretted that trading regulations like those introduced this week in Germany could be adopted in other countries.

Top Pop | Doubtful vet, Travolta dogs, health care

2010-05-18T14:48:00.004-04:00

[Travolta]

Most popular stories right now on the websites of:

The New York Times: Candidate’s words on Vietnam service differ from history
USA Today: Dogs in Travolta's family killed at airport
The Wall Street Journal: No, you can't keep your health plan

NYT to reveal paywall pricing latter part of year

2010-05-17T14:50:00.000-04:00

From a new post on the Business Insider:

The New York Times will announce the pricing and specifics of its online metered paywall model toward the latter part of the year, the company's senior vice president of digital operations, Martin Nisenholtz, said during a presentation at the J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media and Telecom Conference in Boston today.

The so-called metered paywall goes up in January, NYT Executive Editor Bill Keller, said last week.

Stock | NYT outlook dims as E.U. bank fears build

2010-05-16T22:53:00.003-04:00

After falling nearly 3% on Friday, NYT Co. shares resume trading tomorrow morning as fear in the financial markets is building again -- this time over worries Europe's biggest banks face strains that will hobble European economies.

"Bourses and bank shares in Europe plunged on Friday because of these fears," The New York Times says, with Wall Street following suit.

Shares were also down in Tokyo and Australia in early trading on Monday. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 2.1% to 19,732.12, MarketWatch is reporting, falling back below the psychologically important 20,000 level; the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index lost 2.9% to 11,254.22.

Related: the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and the S&P 500 Index

Times said to start charging for Web in January

2010-05-14T00:51:00.000-04:00

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that The New York Times will begin charging for access to articles on its website in January. The Journal cites remarks that NYT Executive Editor Bill Keller made at a dinner for the Foreign Press Association this last night.

The WSJ report notes the Times unveiled a plan early this year to begin charging for access to the Web version of its flagship newspaper. "Keller's comments helped pinpoint the timing of the plan,'' the Journal says.

Ailing Punch Sulzberger misses wife's memorial

2010-05-09T14:45:00.009-04:00

A Spokesman-Review story today, about a memorial service for the recently deceased wife of NYT Co. Chairman Emeritus Arthur "Punch" Sulzberger Sr., 84 (left), notes that he was unable to attend Saturday's event at Spokane, Wash., because of unspecified "poor health." His son, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., spoke in is stead.

“When Allison would leave to go to Spokane . . . his voice was gone,” Sulzberger said of his father, who was quiet and subdued in her absence, the Spokesman-Review story says. When she came home, he’d say, “Hello, sweetheart,” the happiness apparent in his voice, his son recalled. “The greatest gift she gave us was that of love,” Sulzberger said, “in her words and in her deeds.”

Cowles, 75, died at her Spokane home on April 25 from pancreatic cancer. She was the matriarch of the family that owns the Spokane paper.

Urgent: In broad market rout, NYT Co. down 5%

2010-05-06T14:43:00.002-04:00

Company shares finally closed at $9.21, down 45 cents, or 4.7%, as stock markets overall plunged on growing worries over the debt crisis in Europe. NYT Co.'s performance was worse than broader stock market indexes: The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average both dived 3.2%. At one point, the Dow fell by nearly 1,000. (Updated at 5:25 p.m. ET.)

Layoffs | Targeted cuts said smarter in recovery

2010-05-05T12:49:00.001-04:00

In a new story, The Wall Street Journal reports today that companies taking a limited and more-targeted approach to layoffs tend to do better in economic recoveries than those that slash employment sharply and across the board. "You can't shrink your way into prosperity," Wayne Cascio, a business professor at the University of Colorado, Denver, told the WSJ.

The current recovery will test notion, the Journal says, because many companies made unusually steep and rapid layoffs during the Great Recession. NYT Co. dramatically reduced employment last year, eliminating 18% of its global workforce.

Stock | NYT pummeled in broad market selloff

2010-05-04T14:55:00.000-04:00

NYT Co.'s stock recently traded for $9.65 a share, down 52 cents, or 5.11%, as broader markets dived on renewed concerns over the European Union's bailout plan for Greece. NYT's plunge is greater than other market measures: The S&P 500 Index was recently down 2.5%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is off 2.2%, or 248 points. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite has fallen 3.2%.

Quiz | Match Sulzberger's 'obscene' salary, layoffs

2010-05-03T16:25:00.002-04:00

In a new post today, Vanity Fair magazine promises "fun with capitalism" in a multiple-choice quiz: Match the executive's salary to news about his company’s layoffs. The glossy says: "The lucky champion will win . . . a renewed disgust with this country’s fetishization of avarice!"

Noted: NYT Co. Chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. is No. 5 on the list.

Related: Gawker says media CEOs paid as if they ran successful companies

[Image: Cover of the current issue featuring World Cup 2010 players]

NYT spotlights big 2009 paydays for media chiefs

2010-05-03T12:31:00.001-04:00

Top executives at the country’s largest media companies continued to reel in multimillion-dollar pay packages in 2009, a year of widespread cost-cutting throughout the industry, The New York Times reports this morning. In several cases, the packages even increased from the year before. Among the executives listed: NYT Co. CEO Janet Robinson (left) was paid $4.9 million in 2009, 26% more than the year before, and Chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr., the chairman, made $4.8 million, a 171% increase. Last year, company-wide employment plunged 18%, to 7,665, following layoffs. Over the same period, NYT stock jumped 69%, to $12.36 a share at the end of the year.

In Times Square near-bombing, it's advantage: NYT

2010-05-02T16:16:00.002-04:00

The Wall Street Journal missed the big local story in print because it doesn't publish on Sundays. In the rising battle over New York City news, that gave The New York Times an advantage. Still, it kept the play modest, limiting it on the front page to the traditional far-right column lede position (bigger view):

The two papers are now duking it out online, of course. Screenshots, taken moments ago; click on images for bigger view:

[Image: front page, Newseum]

Stock | NYT, other newspaper shares get creamed

2010-04-27T16:17:00.003-04:00

NYT Co.'s stock closed moments ago at $10.45 a share, down 7.3%, as newspaper stocks swooned during a day when markets overall fell on worries over Europe's growing debt crisis.

The news stocks were hit harder, however. Gannett closed at $17.54, down 6%. Shares in News Corp. fell 3.3%, closing at $17.98. The S&P 500 Index, a broader measure of overall stock market activity, fell 2.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 213 points, or 1.9%, Google Finance says.

As battle heats up, WSJ continues circ gains on NYT

2010-04-26T11:32:00.004-04:00

The Wall Street Journal eked out a small circulation gain during the six months ended March 31 from a year ago, an industry group report says today, as the daily racheted up its competition with The New York Times with a new section devoted to New York City.

The Journal topped this morning's Audit Bureau of Circulations list of the nation’s largest-circulation daily newspapers, trade journal Editor & Publisher is reporting. The WSJ was the only daily among the 10 largest to gain circulation in the latest six-month period, E&P says.

The third national daily, USA Today, continued to see its circulation drop, although losses moderated from the the previous six-month period.

Top three dailies
USAT remained No. 2 among the 10 largest, E&P says:

The Wall Street Journal

March 31, 2010: 2,092,523
March 31, 2009: 2,082,189
Change: +0.5%

USA Today

1,826,622
2,113,725
-13.58%

The New York Times

951,063
1,039,032
-8.47%

Urgent: Harbinger dumps another 3.3M shares

2010-04-22T17:12:00.006-04:00

That's according to a just-filed notice to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Activist investor Harbinger Capital's sale of two blocks -- 1.5 million and 1.75 million -- took place yesterday and Tuesday, for between $12.30 and $12.55 a share, the document says.

I'm posting from my iPhone; will update later.

Q1 earnings beat forecasts, but shares sink

2010-04-22T12:04:00.009-04:00

The company today reported first quarter net income $12.8 million, or 8 cents a share, compared with a year-ago loss of $74.5 million, or 52 cents a share. Overall advertising revenue declines continued to moderate, dropping 6%, according to the NYT Co.'s statement.

The quarter included 3 cents per share in special charges. Overall revenue fell 3.2%, to $587.9 million. Analysts had been expecting earnings of 5 cents a share on revenue of $578 million.

Still, Wall Street beat up shares on a day when overall stock markets were down sharply: NYT's stock recently traded for $12.29, down 45 cents, or 3.5%.

In a crucial measure of future growth, the company said digital advertising sales jumped 18%, significantly offsetting a 12% decrease in print advertising.

NYT Co. continued to benefit from cost reductions over the past 12 months that included layoffs at the flagship New York Times. Employment plunged 18% last year, to 7,665 workers, public documents show.

Related: The Wall Street Journal's story on the results, and NYT's.

What happens when you lose a very special iPhone

2010-04-20T13:37:00.002-04:00

"There is no one else on the planet whose shoes I would less like to be in it at the moment."

-- Paul Saffo, a veteran Silicon Valley forecaster, speaking to The New York Times about a closely guarded prototype of the next iPhone, left behind in a Silicon Valley restaurant. That story is currently the most-read on the paper's website.

AdAge says NYT's new online biz page is the latest gambit to grab readers, advertisers from rival WSJ

2010-04-13T17:59:00.005-04:00

The online section front has been rebuilt, starting today, to more closely resemble a home page, trade publication Advertising Age says, "complete with the top-left and top-right 'rabbit ear' ad units traditionally limited to the paper's standard home page; an automated "latest news" box on the top-right with stories from the Times and other sources such as Reuters and the Associated Press; a frequently updated river of news down the left column; a center column highlighting analysis; and Times blog posts wherever they may fit in the news or insight columns."

Related: NYT Co.'s press release on the makeover

NYT wins three Pulitzer Prizes; rival WSJ is shut out

2010-04-12T18:13:00.005-04:00

The New York Times today won three Pulitzer Prizes, in a 2010 competition that saw a new generation of online journalists elbowing their way into the industry's highest honor.

Notably, the Times' surging competitor -- The Wall Street Journal -- failed to win a single prize.

The NYT won for explanatory reporting and for national reporting. Plus, the Times's Sunday magazine tied for the award in investigative reporting with with the Philadelphia Daily News. The magazine's work was in collaboration with ProPublica -- a new, non-profit website devoted to investigative journalism. (So, in fact, maybe the NYT won just 2.5 Pulitzers.)

In a new post, the New York Observer says: The WSJ, which was once a Pulitzer-hoarder under former top editor Paul Steiger, "once again goes home empty-handed." The paper has not won an award since April 2007, and this brings the Journal's Pulitzer count in the Rupert Murdoch era to a grand total of zero, the Observer says.

Related: the complete list of 2010 winners. Plus: the NYT's account of the awards

Carolinas papers merge news executives' jobs

2010-04-10T12:27:00.006-04:00

NYT Co. newspapers in North Carolina and South Carolina are merging some editorial management positions, including sharing an executive editor and a managing editor.

As part of the merger, the Times-News of Hendersonville, N.C., reported yesterday that it eliminated four positions, including that of its executive editor, Bill Moss. The paper said Mike Smith, executive editor of the Herald-Journal of Spartanburg, S.C., will assume responsibility for the Times-News. Also, the sports editor at the Herald-Journal, Burke Noel, will become managing editor for both papers. Noel will be based in Hendersonville.

The communities are about 49 miles apart. (See map, below.)

"These are difficult times for business in general and the newspaper business in particular, but we have shown our long-term commitment to Hendersonville through our investment in this new headquarters," Roger Quinn, chief executive of the Carolinas Group, told the Times-News.

View Larger Map

[Image: today's paper, Newseum]

In NYC rivalry, WSJ has 'uphill battle' against NYT

2010-04-08T14:23:00.001-04:00

[News Corp.'s Rupert Murdoch, NYT Co.'s Arthur Sulzberger Jr.]

That's according to New York Magazine, which compares The Wall Street Journal's roster of reporters in its about-to-launch New York City Bureau to the established team at The New York Times. "Even accounting for slight differences in assignment (the Journal city room will cover only New York, whereas Times city reporters must also do national reporting on their beat), the staff numbers say Murdoch has an uphill battle,'' the magazine says today. It lists reporters known to be devoted to each team. "As you can see," the magazine says, "in nearly every beat, the Times already has two reporters in place for each one of the Journal's."

NYT Co. no longer responds to unsigned queries

2010-04-07T16:03:00.009-04:00

In a sudden policy reversal, the NYT Co. says it will no longer answer questions from journalists who do not identify themselves, including from a widely read blog about the company. The NYTPicker, whose authors are anonymous, says today that new communications chief Robert Christie (left) told the site: “It is the policy of The New York Times not to respond to bloggers or journalists who refuse to identify themselves and/or their affiliation.”

The NYTPicker's authors didn't bow to Christie's request to identify themselves before he would answer a question about a recent post on the site. "Instead," NYTPicker said in a post today, "we noted that the NYT's previous communications chief, Catherine Mathis -- along with numerous NYT reporters and editors -- have regularly replied to questions from The NYTPicker ever since the website began in November of 2008."

Beyond shutting out a frequent online critic, the policy change is noteworthy because it signals a broader shift in the company's public relations strategy.

When Christie was hired early last month from competitor Dow Jones & Co., some observers said it appeared Chairman Arthur Sulzberger (left) was taking a harder position against Dow's owner, Rupert Murdoch, at a time of intensifying rivalry.

Stock | NYT fell hard vs. market in the first quarter

2010-04-05T13:33:00.003-04:00

[Chart shows NYT in blue vs. S&P 500 Index in red; live view]

NYT Co.'s stock traded recently today for $11.33 a share, up 2.4% -- bucking its sharp 12% decline in the first quarter, which ended last Wednesday. During that quarter, NYT fell 12% vs. the broader S&P 500 Index's 4% gain, Google Finance data show.

Program note | I'll be offline most of today

2010-04-02T00:00:00.000-04:00

I'll do my best to read your e-mail and post your comments, as I get only rare Internet access throughout the day.

Urgent: In sale, NYT Co. reduces Red Sox stake

2010-04-01T09:16:00.009-04:00

The just-announced deal with Henry McCance, chairman emeritus of Silicon Valley venture capital firm Greylock Partners, doesn't disclose terms. In a statement, NYT Co. said it would record an undisclosed pre-tax gain in the second quarter. The deal still leaves the Times with a nearly 17% position in the pro team, plus affiliated businesses in New England Sports Ventures.

Related: The New York Times' story on its Media Decoder blog

In early iPad reviews, good to 'game changer'

2010-04-01T06:00:00.001-04:00

Among those published today for Apple's new tablet -- being released Saturday -- most influential-of-all technology reviewers Walter Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal raved: "I believe this beautiful new touch-screen device from Apple has the potential to change portable computing profoundly, and to challenge the primacy of the laptop."

The iPad is priced from $499 to $829, depending on features including whether it's equipped for Wi-Fi only, or fully mobile connections via AT&T's network. Here's a roundup, plus videos, with emphasis on the iPad's potential for helping publishers.

Mossberg
He writes: I was able to try a pre-release version of The Wall Street Journal's new iPad app (which I had nothing to do with designing), and found it gorgeous and highly functional -- by far the best implementation of the newspaper I have ever seen on a screen. Unlike the Journal's Web site, or its smart-phone apps, the iPad version blends much more of the look and feel of the print paper into the electronic environment. Other newspapers and magazines have announced plans for their own, dramatically more realistic iPhone apps.

David Pogue, The New York Times
He writes: There’s an e-book reader app, but it’s not going to rescue the newspaper and book industries (sorry, media pundits). The selection is puny (60,000 titles for now). You can’t read well in direct sunlight. At 1.5 pounds, the iPad gets heavy in your hand after awhile (the Kindle is 10 ounces). And you can’t read books from the Apple bookstore on any other machine — not even a Mac or iPhone.

Edward Baig, USA Today
He writes: You can change pages on the iPad by tapping the screen: The page turns naturally, like a book. On Kindle, you have to press physical buttons and wait an instant while the page refreshes. Rotate the iPad, and you'll see two pages side by side. Newspaper and magazine layouts look vastly superior on the iPad compared with Kindle. The iPad is backlit, so you can read in the dark. You have to supply a reading light with Kindle.

Related: iPad reviews in the news

What's your gut feeling about iPad's potential to aid our industry? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

It's April Fool's Day; watch out for mischief

2010-04-01T05:04:00.001-04:00

In the Internet age, it's easier than ever for pranksters to submit fake press releases today, hoping to trick editors into publishing them.

'Black Wednesday' declared as news service shifts; Newspaper Guild: 'It did not have to come to this'

2010-03-31T06:32:00.006-04:00

About half the nearly 30 editors at the New York Times News Service lose their jobs over the next 24 hours, and the rest will be laid off in June, as the NYT Co. outsources their work to a lower-cost, non-union editing center in Gainesville, Fla., according to the Newspaper Guild of New York.

On its website, the Guild is calling today "Black Wednesday," the low point of a week marking "the demise of the 93-year-old News Service," after contract talks failed to keep the jobs in New York City.

"It did not have to come to this,'' the newsletter says, in recounting the history of those negotiations. "Under the Guild proposal, News Service employees would have agreed to a wage reduction of approximately 17% to about $75,000 a year, and they would work a 40-hour week. The company would have saved about $1.5 million in severance pay and the operation would have continued uninterrupted."

Today, the first News Service editor reports to work at 10 a.m., and the last leaves at 2:30 a.m. on Thursday, the union says, adding: "We hope Guild members can find a few minutes throughout the day to visit the staffers at their desks on the ninth floor to say goodbye and wish them well."

Among rivals, WSJ slow-mos RNC erotic club story

2010-03-30T07:50:00.001-04:00

[Picture worth 1,000 words: Voyeur's homepage tells the story]

I watched The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post and USA Today as the Republican National Committee mini-scandal unfolded yesterday over a nearly $2,000 night at faux bondage club Voyeur in Los Angeles. The WSJ appeared to be the last one to post a story, and their coverage seems anemic -- especially alongside the Post's Dan Eggen. That slow-mo coverage adds fuel to the perception that the Journal's Washington Bureau is now tinged with partisan politics.

But the biggest winner's got to be the club itself: Talk about free publicity!

Related: USA Today's story, and the NYT's

NYT Co. to release first-quarter earnings April 22

2010-03-29T14:22:00.002-04:00

In a just-posted statement, the company says it will host an earnings conference call with Wall Street stock analysts April 22 at 11 a.m. ET, shortly after releasing the first-quarter report.

USA Today circulation reveals NYC battleground

2010-03-29T13:08:00.002-04:00

[Top 10 USAT "print markets" -- not cities -- for paper sales]

As it wields a new trade campaign in the growing rivalry among the three national dailies, USA Today's marketing kit offers a glimpse at the stakes -- especially in the New York City area. That's where The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal are battling for local supremacy, with some observers fearing Journal owner Rupert Murdoch aims to put the NYT out of business.

USA Today's fight is over national advertising and readers, rather than the New York metro alone. Nonetheless, circulation figures show the paper has plenty of readers to peel away there.

USAT's publicly available data doesn't reveal the exact number of New York City area readers. Still, the paper's New York print market -- which extends well north in the state -- is the single-biggest among 25 such regions in copy sales: Nearly 152,000, Monday through Thursday, or about 8% of the total 1.8 million sold nationwide those days. (See, graphic, above.)

USA Today is using trade publications such as Advertising Age to get more advertising buyers to consider the paper. In New York City, the WSJ is aiming for some of the NYT's bread-and-butter: Big display advertisers such as Bergdorf Goodman and Bloomingdales. The Journal is set to open a New York City bureau next month, staffed with about 36 reporters, editors and other journalists. The paper also is beefing up its sports coverage of New York area professional teams.

How much are USAT ad rates?
Cost of a full-page ad, Monday through Thursday: $119,600 (black and white); $189,400 (color); Friday (when circulation is higher): $146,000 and $231,000.

Total readers, including pass-along: 3.7 million 

Male/female: 70%/30% 
Median age: 49 
College graduate+: 38% 
Professional/managerial: 25% 
Median household income: $74,949

How is USA Today's audience different than yours? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

[Image: today's paper, Newseum]

Mutter: How to value your paper; plus, ABC data

2010-03-29T13:07:00.001-04:00

Blogger Alan Mutter explains how the value of Florida's Daytona News-Journal sank by 93% in just four years -- and what that means for your newspaper. Plus, he offers a link to a handy Audit Bureau of Circulations database, where you can look up your paper's most recent circulation figures.

In new ads, USA Today fires at rival; is NYT next?

2010-03-26T09:27:00.003-04:00

[AdWeek banner tackles famous WSJ feature; see arrow]

Gannett's flagship is now taking on The Wall Street Journal via a series of ads in AdWeek and other trade publications -- and the paper isn't holding back. In a banner ad I saw recently, USAT not-so-subtly takes a dig at one of the WSJ's most famous daily features: "Heard on the Street," a column and related stories closely read by Wall Street investors because its exclusive news often moves stocks.

As the NYT Co. rolls out a brand-awareness campaign of its own, I expect to see USAT's focus shift to The New York Times, too.

The USA Today ad is part of its new campaign focused on potential advertisers, one that emphasizes the paper's populist position in the market. The paper's line: USAT's more general readership isn't so taken with inside-baseball accounts of, in this case, the stock market. "What's heard on the street doesn't matter," the ad says. "What they really want is Money."

That, of course, is USA Today's Money section, which emphasizes personal finance, consumer technology and well-known retail brands: the public face of U.S. business.

But the USAT campaign isn't risk-free. In distancing itself from harder-edge coverage like "Heard on the Street," the paper may draw unwanted attention to its reputation in some quarters for being too lightweight. That could backfire among potential advertisers seeking better-educated, more affluent readers. The Gannett paper's ad revenue remains under pressure, so this campaign's success ultimately depends on whether is spurs more sales.

It's no surprise that USAT is gunning for the WSJ. Under new owner Rupert Murdoch, the paper snatched the No. 1 circulation title last year, bolstered by its hundreds of thousands of paid online subscriptions. The Gannett paper is left promoting itself as No. 1 in print, a difficult sell when online is where the action lies.

Now, the Journal is beefing up its sports reporting, too, a key franchise for USAT. This week, The New York Observer reported that the Journal's sports reporters are getting on-the-road credentials to cover New York area pro sports teams like the Mets, aiming for human-interest features beyond game scores, a hallmark of USA Today's well-regarded sports reporting.

USA Today's campaign also comes as the NYT is similarly engaged in a full-bore trade marketing effort of its own, largely targeted at the WSJ, but with collaterall fire for USAT, too.

[Image: today's WSJ, Newseum]

Note to readers| Why I haven't been posting much

2010-03-23T04:59:00.001-04:00

I apologize for the infrequent updates. Between a recent business trip, and a flurry of news on one of my more active blogs, I've been swamped. I expect to catch up soon. As always, I appreciate your patience.

Urgent: Sulzberger paid nearly $6 million in 2009; Robinson gets $6.3 million, as pay soars over 2008

2010-03-12T09:36:00.009-05:00

The New York Times Co. just disclosed annual compensation for top officers last year, and their paychecks soared in comparison to 2008. The pay boosts came during another year of layoffs and other austerity measures.

Chairman Arthur Sulzberger was paid $5.9 million vs. $2.3 million in 2008, according to the just-filed annual proxy report to shareholders. CEO Janet Robinson earned $6.3 million vs. $4.8 million in 2008, the document shows.

Their fattened paychecks came when overall NYT Co. employment fell 18%, to 7,665 workers, as the company struggled to recover from revenue losses as more advertising dollars shifted to online competitors.

Related: Here's the full compensation table for the company's five highest-paid executives

Program note | I'm posting infrequently this week

2010-03-10T10:51:00.001-05:00

I'm going to be online, but busy with non-New York Times Co. Blog stuff through Sunday. I'll be watching e-mail for breaking news, however.

By the numbers | Sizing up a top advertising rival

2010-03-04T13:22:00.001-05:00

[His nickname: "Zuck"]

From today's Wall Street Journal story about Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's slow-mo plans to sell shares to the public. The twenty-something owns more than 25% of the giant social media company he started in a Harvard dorm room, the WSJ says. Other numbers:

in billions of dollars, possible 2010 revenue

board seats Zuckerberg controls

number of board members

in billions of dollars, Facebook's recent valuation

Zuckerberg's age

400

in millions, number of users

1,200

number of employees

2004

year Facebook founded

How many times a week to you visit Facebook? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

Murdoch confirms April launch of new WSJ section; in speech, he promises NYC edition 'will be feisty'

2010-03-02T14:25:00.002-05:00

In remarks that refer to "a certain other New York daily'' -- The New York Times -- CEO Rupert Murdoch for the first time previewed The Wall Street Journal's nascent New York City edition, in a speech today before the Real Estate Board of New York, according to a transcript on Romenesko. He confirmed that it will launch next month, saying:

"I can't tell you all the details. I can tell you that the new section will be full color -- and it will be feisty. It will cover everything that makes New York great: state politics, local politics, business, culture, and sports. Oh yes -- and real estate. Why are we expanding where others are pulling back? Because we take a different view of technology and value. Too many newspaper editors and owners are afraid that technology is harming the value of our product. The truth is just the opposite: technology is putting a premium on content."

Related: Here's the WSJ's story

Big paper profits already seen on stock options

2010-03-01T16:23:00.006-05:00

[NYT's stock surge today benefited top executives]

A slew of stock options showered on a top executives in late February are already worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, based on today's big jump in NYT Co. shares. NYT stock closed at $11.75 a share moments ago, up 7.4% amid rumors -- later denied -- that the company was targeted for takeover by major investor Carlos Slim of Mexico.

The options awarded by the board of directors allow the executives to buy NYT shares from the company for $11.13 a share -- the "strike price" -- no matter how high the market price goes. They may buy and then sell the shares, known as "exercising" them, in three equal annual installments starting Feb. 18, 2011, newly disclosed company documents show.

The 62-cent difference between this afternoon's closing price and the $11.13 strike price means, for example, that Chairman Arthur Sulzberger's 181,650 options have now jumped in value to a net $112,623 -- in well under two weeks. Ditto for CEO Janet Robinson. See the chart, above, for paper value increases for all eight executives.

[Data: Google Finance]

Urgent: NYT shares jump on Slim takeover rumors, but WSJ reports Mexican investor not interested

2010-03-01T14:57:00.003-05:00

(Updated at 2:57 p.m.) The New York Times Co.'s stock soared as much as 10% today on rumors that Mexican investor Carlos Slim is seeking to acquire the entire company, MarketWatch reported earlier. But The Wall Street Journal, citing his spokesman, says Slim isn't interested. NYT traded earlier today for $11.48 a share, up 4.3%. The stock has traded as high as $12.17 today -- well up from its 52-week low of $3.51, but off its high of $14.87.

Animus vs. arrogance, Part 2: Murdoch's envy

2010-03-01T14:38:00.003-05:00

We knew that News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch wants to compete hard against The New York Times with his prized Wall Street Journal.

But I didn't realize how fully it stems from a status-driven hatred for the paper and its owners. That battle is presented as the downmarket Australian press baron vs. the imperious, white shoe Sulzberger clan, according to today's New York magazine cover story about Murdoch. The graph that sealed it for me:

"Building the Journal into a general-interest newspaper to take on the Times is a crusade. Arthur Sulzberger himself is, for Murdoch, a symbol of the Times hypocrisy, its smugness, and its shortcomings. Murdoch’s hatred of the Times is a product of his long-standing class antagonisms rooted in his early days as an Australian building an empire in London. But on a more fundamental level, he believes Sulzberger is a poor businessman who has mismanaged his company’s fortunes and deserves to lose."

What's the over/under on whether the Sulzbergers will still control the Times Co. a year from now? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

Animus vs. arrogance? Murdoch and Sulzberger

2010-03-01T13:58:00.005-05:00

[Murdoch, Sulzberger]

From today's much-anticipated New York magazine cover story about CEO Rupert Murdoch:

1. When author Gabriel Sherman asked Arthur Sulzberger about surging competition with The Wall Street Journal, the Times Co. chairman dismissed his question out of hand: "Whatever," he said.

2. After Murdoch read an unflattering June 10, 2007, editorial about his plans to buy the Journal, he sent a note to Sulzberger that concluded "Let the battle begin!"

Winter Haven | Publisher resigns, job eliminated

2010-02-27T13:20:00.018-05:00

Driven by cost-cutting in the beleaguered Florida newspaper market, News Chief Publisher Nelson Kirkland (left) resigned, effective Thursday, and his job was eliminated, according to a story in the nearby Ledger of Lakeland, Fla.

His departure from the Winter Haven paper after two years was presented as amicable, although his supervisor -- Ledger Publisher Jerome Ferson -- told the paper: "Rather than accept an important position elsewhere in the company, Nelson Kirkland decided to leave the News Chief at the beginning of the month."

"My departure comes down to a business decision,'' Kirkland, 47, told the Ledger. "I'm very proud of the people I had a chance to work with. I will soon be a free agent, and that opens the door for many possibilities."

Will papers stay separate?
The NYT Co. bought the Chief from Gatehouse Media in March 2008. The Chief and the Ledger are just 18 miles apart (see interactive map, below) -- contributing to fears that the two papers could be combined. Addressing those concerns, the Ledger story said editorial operations will remain separate.

Following Kirkland's resignation, two of the Chief's senior managers will now report to Ledger executives: the managing editor to Ferson, and the advertising manager to the Ledger's advertising director.

Kirkland had been the Ledger's advertising director before being named Chief publisher.

The shake-up comes as Florida newspapers continue struggling with the aftershocks of the mortgage meltdown and the great recession. The Ledger's circulation plunged 11.4% to 47,872 as of Sept. 30 from a year before, the paper says, citing Audit Bureau of Circulations data. Sunday fell 10.6% to 62,317. The Chief's figures were not included in the ABC report.

Across the newspaper industry, companies have slashed costs by eliminating high-paying jobs. The nation's No. 1 publisher, Gannett Co., has retired a number of publishers in recent years, assigning their duties to other executives who then supervise several publications simultaneously.

Related: the Chief's entry in Wikipedia

View Larger Map

Big personnel news at your worksite? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

[Image: today's Ledger, Newseum]

Deal with annoying publicists? Here's one for you!

2010-02-26T01:07:00.001-05:00

It's a video about a subject near and dear to newspaper and TV reporters everywhere: news embargoes.

NYT | Bloomingdale's said in new NYC section

2010-02-25T19:06:00.005-05:00

Bergdorf Goodman, too, according to a new Advertising Age story that says the two retailers' plans for The Wall Street Journal's new New York City section illustrate the threat that metro expansion poses for The New York Times' hometown advertising base.

"Both traditionally spend far more in the Times than in the Journal,'' the trade publication says. "Bloomingdale's, for example, spent $17.9 million in the Times last year while devoting less than $1 million to the Journal, according to estimates from Kantar Media."

Ad Age notes that the NYT "has a solid base and probably a great many loyalists that won't be easy for the Journal to poach. But it also means the Times has something to lose, while the Journal is looking at tremendous opportunity."

[Image: Bloomie's iconic brown shopping bag]

Old Gray Heads? | Over past decade, age rose

2010-02-25T13:05:00.009-05:00

[NYT Co.'s 10 most-senior officers last year]

Unfairly or not, aging industry leaders are accused of being out of touch with future consumers: young people who are abandoning newspapers in favor of Facebook, Twitter and other digital media. In response, you'd think, the NYT Co. and other publishers would add younger executives to the ranks of senior officers.

But, no. A review of the Times Co.'s annual reports over the past 10 years shows the opposite has happened. The average officer's age has actually increased since 2000.

Last year, the average of 10 officers listed was 53.5 years, according to the just-published annual 10-K report. (See chart, above.) In 2000, the average of 15 officers listed was lower -- 50.3, according to that year's report.

In 2000, the youngest officer was Cynthia Augustine, 42, senior vice president for human resources. Last year, it was the officer occupying that same job: Todd McCarty, 44 years old; he was hired in December.

Does age really make a difference? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

[Image: Chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr., 58 years old]

Welcome, new readers sent by Romenesko!

2010-02-24T01:08:00.005-05:00

Many of you are visiting my New York Times Co. Blog for the first time, after following a link from the Romenesko blog. I'm glad to see you here. This site depends on contributions from readers. Got a news tip? Have a question?

Please post your replies in the comments sections throughout this blog. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

Pension underfunding now put near $420 million

2010-02-23T22:02:00.000-05:00

The New York Times Co. had unfunded pension obligations estimated at $420 million as of Jan 1, Editor & Publisher says in a new story, based on the company's just-filed 10-K annual report to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

That was an improvement over the $535 underfunding a year ago -- a figure that doesn't reflect temporary valuation relief then allowed by the U.S. Treasury Department, the report says. With that relief, the underfunding would have been a lower $300 million, notes E&P.

I hope to post something on the pension myself, but I'm still sifting through the dense language in the report.

A cautionary note
I am by no means an expert on pensions. The subject's complexity is reflected in the fact that the word pension appears at least 100 times in the annual report. Employees and retirees who are concerned about their benefits should consult an accountant or other retirement professional. My observations here are meant only to start a discussion on the subject.

Earlier: Overall Times Co. employment fell 18% in 2009

Related: a company video I just discovered about the NYT Co. brand

Current and retired Times Co. financial professionals, please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

Nearly 224K stock options for Sulzberger, Golden

2010-02-22T23:17:00.009-05:00

The company granted another round of stock awards to top officials, according to new filings today with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The recipients:

Chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. (left): 181,650 options on Class A common stock. The strike price is $11.13 a share. The options vest in three equal annual installments beginning Feb. 18, 2011. Sulzberger also received 13,650 units of restricted stock to be paid in cash at the market price on Feb. 18, 2013. (Here's the SEC document.)

Vice Chairman Michael Golden: 42,000 options on Class A shares. The strike price and vesting schedule are the same as Sulzberger's. He also got 4,305 restricted stock units. They are to be paid on the same terms as Sulzberger as well. (Document here.)

The awards disclosed today follow a slew of options and restricted stock units awarded last week to CEO Janet Robinson and five other top executives. Please see that post for a full explanation of how options and RSUs work.

Related: a complete list of the company's SEC filings

Urgent: NYT Co. employment plunged 18% in 2009

2010-02-22T18:10:00.008-05:00

[Chart shows annual workforce change among five divisions]

On a wave of layoffs and other job cuts, employment across the New York Times Co. fell 18% last year from the year before, to 7,665 workers, the company just disclosed in its annual 10-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. It was the steepest annual decline in the past six years for the owner of The New York Times, The Boston Globe and other media properties, documents show.

The chart, top, shows the biggest decline was at the NYT Media Group, which includes the Times flagship itself; total employment in the division fell 21% to 3,222 workers. But much of that drop came from the closing of the City & Suburban distribution company. The shuttering was announced in 2008, but didn't take place until early last year.

Employment in the New England Media Group, including the Globe and the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, fell 17%.

Company-wide employment by year:

Related: a complete list of the company's SEC filings

How is your worksite been affected by job cuts? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

[Image: today's Telegram & Gazette, Newseum]

NYT Co. awards nearly 350,000 new stock options to CEO Robinson and five other senior executives

2010-02-19T20:22:00.016-05:00

[Chart shows executive stock awards disclosed today]

The New York Times Co. has awarded new stock options and other stock-based compensation potentially worth millions of dollars to six of the company's most senior executives, according to regulatory filings today.

The awards made yesterday appear to be the first evidence of annual executive bonuses for 2009, a year when the company's belt-tightening included more layoffs and other cost reductions. Complete details of those bonuses, plus salaries, benefits and other 2009 compensation, are expected when the company files its annual shareholders proxy statement, likely around mid-March. (List of the six highest-compensated executives in 2008.)

The awards disclosed today via U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings came in two forms:

Stock options. These give recipients the right to buy shares from the company in the future at a fixed price -- known as the strike price -- no matter how high the stock rises. The options disclosed today become the executives' property -- known as vesting -- in three equal annual installments beginning Feb. 18, 2011. The strike price is also the same for each executive: $11.13, the documents show.
Restricted stock units (RSUs). These are paid in cash based on the market value of NYT Co. shares, and vest on Feb. 18, 2013. Each RSU is equal to one share of common stock. For example, a grant of 1,000 RSUs would be worth $15,000 if the stock was trading for $15 a share.

As expected, CEO Janet Robinson (left) topped the list; she received 181,650 options and 13,650 RSUs, the filing for her awards says. At today's closing price -- $11.02 -- her RSUs would be worth $150,423 cash in February 2013 if shares were trading at the same price.

Todd McCarty, one of the executives on today's list, had already received options and RSUs earlier this month, according to a regulatory filing this week. Those appear to have amounted to a signing bonus for joining the company as its new senior vice president for human resources in December.

The filings came in a series of Forms 4, filed with the SEC. The complete list is in the company's SEC documents section, here.

Got a stock question? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

Family member nominated to a shrinking board; therapist said expert on family-controlled firms

2010-02-18T18:18:00.045-05:00

The board of directors said today it has nominated Ochs-Sulzberger family member Carolyn Dryfoos Greenspon, a psychotherapist, to replace another family member on the board, Daniel Cohen, who disclosed in January that he would not stand for re-election.

Also today, the board revealed in its statement that Scott Galloway, a one-time activist director since 2008, also would not seek re-election. The board chose to not fill his seat, so the governing body will shrink to 13 members.

Galloway joined the board after leading a dissident shareholder campaign to force changes at the company; his departure appears to be victory for Chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr.

Soothing family dramas
The Ochs-Sulzberger family has controlled the Times Co. for more than 100 years. Greenspon (left) and Chairman Sulzberger are second cousins; Cohen and Sulzberger are first cousins. (See this family tree.)

Greenspon, 41, is a social worker and therapist in private practice at Comprehensive Psychiatric Associates in the Boston suburb of Wellesley. Notably, today's board statement says, she offers expertise in a speciality of current importance to her own family: She is a consultant working with "multigenerational family businesses and families who share substantial assets."

Consultants such as Greenspon are increasingly in demand at family-controlled firms, where intergenerational squabbles can spur the breakup of dynastic businesses. That was the fate of Dow Jones & Co. in 2007, when the long-time controlling Bancroft family sold the media giant and its marquee title, The Wall Street Journal, to News Corp.

Murdoch's looming threat
The Ochs-Sulzbergers have led the Times Co. since 1896, when Adolph S. Ochs bought controlling ownership for $75,000.

But in recent years, observers have questioned how long the family can maintain control amid growing competition online -- and from News Corp. Under News CEO Rupert Murdoch (left), the Journal increasingly is encroaching on The New York Times' franchise; the WSJ reportedly is about to launch a 36-person New York City Bureau, for example.

The Times Co. board elections are to be held at the annual shareholders meeting, set for April 27.

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

Re: NYT Foundation and Neediest Cases Fund

2010-02-17T13:55:00.005-05:00

Does anyone care how much departed President Jack Rosenthal got paid running the company's charitable arm? I've got tax and auditors reports for 2005-2008, the most recent available, but I'm not sure about your interest level in the subject. My curiosity was piqued by last year's announcement that the New York Times Foundation shuttered its grant making and matching employee gifts programs.

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

New HR chief McCarty granted big stock awards

2010-02-16T23:41:00.000-05:00

In a move presumably related to his appointment two months ago, Todd McCarty (left) has been granted 50,000 stock options and 31,625 units of restricted stock, potentially worth hundreds of thousands of dollars or more, a regulatory filing today shows. McCarty was appointed senior vice president for human relations in mid-December.

The options become fully his property -- or vest -- in three equal annual installments starting Feb. 12, 2011, according to the filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The so-called strike price -- the amount he would pay the company to buy the shares -- is $10.53 each. Based on today's closing price, $11.10 a share, those options already have a net paper value of nearly $29,000.

The restricted stock units vest on Feb. 12, 2013, and allow McCarty to receive the cash equivalent of 31,625 shares of Class A common stock based on the market value of those shares as of that date. For example, if the market value were the same as today's closing price on the exercise date, McCarty would be entitled to $351,038 from the company.

Class A common are the shares that most employees and average investors trade. The more powerful Class B shares are mostly owned by members of the Ochs-Sulzberger family, allowing them significant control over the board of directors.

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

NYT | Is the WSJ gunning for a Pulitzer -- in sports?

2010-02-16T23:40:00.001-05:00

Here's fresh evidence that The Wall Street Journal under owner Rupert Murdoch (left) is aiming to be a more general-interest national newspaper, elbowing past The New York Times and USA Today.

Check out its full-bore hard-news coverage of the decisions leading to the death of a luge athlete last week. The paper has just broadcast an alert to the following story, now on its website:

Years before a young luge racer from the Republic of Georgia flew to his death at the Olympics last week, officials made a series of decisions designed to make the icy track a commercial success after the Games but that left it faster, and ultimately more dangerous, than any competitive track before.

'Anonymity is no guarantee in online postings'

2010-02-14T19:57:00.001-05:00

Excerpts from a Chicago Tribune story published today, where I was interviewed about the pitfalls of posting anonymous comments on blogs and other websites:

Write something threatening or defamatory and the mask of anonymity can be removed. It's technologically simple to track the source of a comment; the more difficult question is when it should be done. Add to the complicated stew of issues an Internet culture of free-wheeling commentary, and the results can be unpredictable.

"There are purists who think the Internet is a fundamentally different medium and that the old rules — that is, vetting letters to the editor — should not be applied to comments," says Jim Hopkins, a former reporter based in San Francisco who runs several media blogs. "I've been hit with the same criticism. If you limit these comments in any way, (critics say) you're engaging in censorship."

In a departure from past practice, I now review all comments before they get published, sometimes rejecting those that are unsuitable. How do you feel about that policy? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

[Image: today's Tribune, Newseum]

NYT ends missed-copy delivery in Phoenix

2010-02-13T14:55:00.001-05:00

In an e-mail, a reader says they were notified last week that The New York Times is ending same-day replacement copies of missed deliveries in the Phoenix area every day but Sunday. The Times said the missed-copy deliveries are ending "due to a change in service by our local delivery provider,'' according to a letter from Yasmin Namini, senior vice president, marketing and circulation, given to some subscribers. The change is effective on Monday.

I do not know whether the service is being dropped in other markets, or just in Phoenix. Times Co. spokeswoman Diane McNulty did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment.

Urgent: Company beats forecast, but shares plunge

2010-02-10T12:20:00.014-05:00

(Updated at 1:52 p.m.) NYT Co. posted a higher-than-expected quarterly profit today after slashing costs, but the newspaper publisher warned that print advertising will continue to decline in the current quarter. In early afternoon trading, shares dived nearly 9% -- accelerating a sell-off that began earlier in the day.

Ad revenue at the news media group, which includes The New York Times, Boston Globe and other papers, fell 15% in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, Reuters news service says.

But CEO Janet Robinson offered a cloudy forecast for the current quarter, sending investors skittering. "In the first quarter of 2010, we expect the rate of decline for print advertising to continue to improve modestly from the fourth quarter," she said in a statement.

Net income was $90.9 million, or 61 cents a share, up from $27.6 million, or 19 cents a share in the year-ago fourth quarter. Excluding charges and other items, NYT Co. would have earned 44 cents a share, up 22% from a year earlier. Revenue was $681.2 million, down 11.5% from $769.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2008. Media stock analysts had forecast revenue of $653 million, down from $772 million. Earnings were expected to be 38 cents per share, double the 19 cents in the prior year.

Here's an interesting detail from the statement: "Corporate costs were $20.1 million compared with $11.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2008, mainly due to higher performance-related compensation costs." That sounds like higher bonuses, no?

Related: The NYT's story is here. And The Wall Street Journal's account is here.

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

Earnings | Signs of hope in Wednesday's report?

2010-02-08T12:58:00.006-05:00

The company reports fourth-quarter financial results on Wednesday morning, amid glimmers of growth in advertising sales that emerged toward the end of last year.

Media stock analysts are forecasting revenue of $653 million, down from $772 million in the comparable quarter of 2008, according to the Associated Press' run-up to the quarterly report. Earnings are expected to be 38 cents per share, double the 19 cents in the prior year. That follows $475 million in expense reductions, the news service says. What to watch for, according to the A.P.: "Signs of hope or more misery in a bleak advertising market that has tormented newspapers for the past three years."

CEO Janet Robinson (left) and other top executives are set to host a conference call with analysts at 11 a.m. ET Wednesday, following release of the earnings report before the stock market opens at 9:30 a.m. The call is open to the public, and will be webcast off Corporate's website, here.

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

In Avatar blockbuster, Murdoch's anti-NYT nuke

2010-02-04T20:07:00.004-05:00

As The Wall Street Journal readies its nascent New York City news bureau to battle The New York Times, controlling shareholder Rupert Murdoch has another weapon at his disposal: Huge profits from Avatar, which is being distributed by the media mogul's Twentieth Century Fox division. In a new post today, blogger Ken Doctor smartly notes that News Corp. -- holding company for the WSJ, Fox and other media properties -- stands to earn $1.5 billion or more from sci-fi epic Avatar alone.

"That compares to the Times Co.'s total revenue of less than $2.5 billion in 2009," Doctor says, "and probably a small operating loss (the company reports its full 2009 on Feb. 10.)" He continues: "If you're Rupert Murdoch though, you just have to say, 'Take some of that blue people money and invest it in the Journal. Remember I said I wanted to kill the Times.' Maybe send them flying into the infinity of the flux vortex."

NYT announces paywall-related staff reorganization

2010-01-30T19:33:00.005-05:00

More than a week after disclosing long-awaited plans to install a metering system to charge for online content, The New York Times has announced new duties and titles for five executives. "These staff changes will enable us to successfully develop and implement the metered model, while we continue to drive our advertising business aggressively forward,” said Denise Warren, senior vice president and chief advertising officer, the New York Times Media Group and general manager, NYTimes.com.

The following changes were detailed yesterday in a statement:

Paul Smurl, vice president, advertising, has been named to a newly-created role of vice president, NYTimes.com paid products, where he will be responsible for the implementation and financial performance of the metered model. After the build-out phase, Smurl will be responsible for growing paid products into significant businesses. Additionally, he will have revenue responsibility for crossword subscriptions and mobile game products. He will report to Warren.
Eliot Pierce, vice president, operations and strategy, NYTimes.com, becomes vice president, advertising and digital strategy, business development and ad operations, NYTimes.com. Pierce adds advertising planning and digital ad operations to his portfolio. He will continue to oversee digital strategy and business development for the website. Pierce will continue to report to Warren.
Nick Ascheim, vice president, product management, NYTimes.com, has been named to the newly-created role of vice president, new ventures, NYTimes.com, where he will extend the Times' reach into different products, services and platforms, including new video opportunities. He will now report to Warren.
Ira Silberstein, vice president, classified products, becomes vice president, product management and classifieds, NYTimes.com. Silberstein will now oversee the product management group, in addition to the classified team. Silberstein will continue to report to Marc Frons, chief technology officer for digital operations.
Rob Larson, vice president, digital production, NYTimes.com, has been named vice president, search products, NYTimes.com, where he will focus on the Times' emerging Open Topic platform and semantic web initiative. He will continue to manage the New York Times Index, Times Online Services and the Times's Digital Archive Distribution relationships. He will continue to report to Frons.

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Marketing 101 | Follow me on Facebook, Twitter

2010-01-30T14:03:00.003-05:00

On Facebook, I'm Jim Hopkins in San Francisco. On Twitter, it's Gannett Blog.

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Boston | Early in term, Mayer gets good marks

2010-01-28T15:38:00.004-05:00

In a new story today, the Boston Phoenix writes about prospects for The Boston Globe, with emphasis on Christopher Mayer (left), named publisher last fall. "If the New York Times Co. was going to pick yet another publisher," a long-time Globe veteran tells the alternative weekly, "they finally found someone who understands both the Globe and the local community. Chris worked his way up — he's been at the Globe 22 years — so he knows everybody, and he's very well liked and respected. The last two publishers parachuted in; nobody knew who the hell they were. With Mayer, there's no learning curve — and there's no issue of, 'How do we get the employees behind this guy?'"

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Report: WSJ's N.Y. city bureau to be even bigger

2010-01-28T14:34:00.002-05:00

Expected to launch on April 12, The Wall Street Journal's New York City bureau will employ roughly three dozen staffers, three times more than the dozen or so the paper had planned for just three months ago, according to the New York Observer, adding that it represents Rupert Murdoch's most direct assault on The New York Times: "As we’ve reported, Mr. Murdoch has set aside a budget of $15 million for the project. There are plans for a daily stand-alone New York section, an Albany bureau, a City Hall bureau, a crime beat, a sports section and a culture section—in other words, a new, full-fledged New York paper, and one, incidentally, that is looking increasingly like the now defunct New York Sun."

Apple tablet | Papers live-blogging today's launch

2010-01-27T13:53:00.003-05:00

[CEO Steve Jobs holds device in this New York Times photo]

I'm not at this morning's San Francisco debut for Apple's tablet, the much-hyped multimedia device that's expected to help newspaper publishers grab new paying readers. But the three national dailies are reporting details on what we now know has been dubbed the iPad, as the event continues unfolding; it started at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT:

USA Today's Technology Live
The Wall Street Journal's Digits
The New York Times' Bits

Here's the WSJ's first video of the event, via Fox News:

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McClatchy to stay focused on ad-supported model

2010-01-27T13:05:00.005-05:00

Amid the NYT Co.'s plans for a New York Times metered paywall, McClatchy Co. CEO Gary Pruitt says the company is willing to experiment with charging readers for online content. But the newspaper publisher, reporting fourth-quarter earnings this morning, remains focused on a business model based on advertising sales, he tells Dow Jones Newswires.

McClatchy is the first of the major publishers to report fourth-quarter results. Overall revenue fell 17% to $393 million. Advertising revenue was down 20.5%, compared with a 28.1% decline in the third. Citing continued progress in January, the company says it expects ad revenue to decline this quarter by a percentage in the low to mid-teens, according to The Associated Press.

Related: New York Times Co. reports its quarterly results Feb. 10

Report: NYT Co. launches new e-profit unit

2010-01-25T18:46:00.002-05:00

(Updated at 6:46 p.m. with company statement.) Bloomberg News is now reporting that the New York Times Co. "will create a business unit to focus on generating profits from electronic editions, including versions of its newspapers for Amazon.com Inc.’s Kindle." The service cites an internal memo out today.

The story continues: "Times Co. said in the memo that it appointed Yasmin Namini, the senior vice president of marketing and circulation, as general manager of the unit, which joins four others as part of the Media Group: the newspaper, website, the International Herald Tribune and News Services."

Related: here's the company's statement

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Tips 'n' tales | All about web-based investigations

2010-01-23T13:07:00.002-05:00

The Association of Alternative Weeklies is hosting its annual winter conference in the San Francisco Bay area next weekend. I'll be on a panel Friday, offering advice on how to do online investigative journalism. From the website for the meeting: "AAN West focuses on line-level staff, offering training and networking opportunities for sales, editorial, design and business personnel." My co-panelist is a staffer with PBS's Frontline World. Details of my panel, set for 2 to 3:30 p.m.:

Low Cost, Big Impact: How to Make the Web Work for You 
Panel Discussion hosted by Jackie Bennion and Jim Hopkins. How can reporters and editors with little time and less budget maximize the use of the web for groundbreaking investigative projects? Hopkins and Bennion will go through tips, techniques and ideas for improving your use of the web to report, produce, publish and promote big stories.

Stock | In a bad market week, NYT fared worse

2010-01-22T17:04:00.004-05:00

[NYT in blue vs. S&P-500 index in red; click image for bigger view]

Shares in the New York Times Co. plunged 11% during the past five trading days, more than twice as much as the 5% decline by the S&P-500 index, a widely watched barometer of broad stock market activity. Shares of major newspaper publishers I watch, with their change over the last five trading days, based on today's just-reported closing prices:

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Stock | New NYT paywall doesn't rally investors

2010-01-20T14:07:00.003-05:00

Stock markets are broadly lower in trading so far today. But major newspaper publishers are suffering even more -- despite the New York Times Co.'s announcement that it has settled on a pay model for its flagship paper. Among stocks I follow, recent prices and change:

Gannett: $15.83, down 3%
News Corp.: $15.37, down 3%
NYT Co.: $13.14, down 4%
Dow Jones Industrial Average: down 2%
S&P-500: down 1%

Urgent: NYT debuts plan to charge for Web news

2010-01-20T11:17:00.004-05:00

After months of internal debate, the New York Times Co. this morning announced a new plan to charge readers for most of its online news and information. Under the new "metered model," scheduled to begin a year from now, nonsubscribers will be allowed to view a set number of articles per month free, the Times says in its story. Reading additional articles in the month will result in a charge, which the NYT didn't specify. It said it would be providing more details in the coming months.

Chairman Arthur Sulzberger says the decision came after "months of vigorous analysis and debate,'' according to a memo to employees obtained by the Romenesko industry blog: "We know from long experience that significant change invariably breeds controversy; that there will be an ongoing public conversation about what we are doing, and we expect that many of the comments will prove to be helpful."

NYT media columnist David Carr on advantages of a so-called meter: "By building a metered system, the executives have installed a dial on the huge, heaving content machine of The New York Times. Access can be gradually ramped up or down depending on macro trends in the market."

Plus: Here's the WSJ's story. Also: The NYT Picker blog

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[Image: today's NYT, Newseum]

Why NYT is only paper with new paywall chances

2010-01-19T14:34:00.002-05:00

"There is no other newspaper that we believe can pull this off at this time," paidContent says in a new post, "even though a majority of newspaper editors are considering it. In fact, other papers like The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times should go on the offensive and try to satisfy as many ad-funded readers as possible, since they’ll have a shot at boasting as many monthly uniques as NYTimes.com."

Giving | What happened to NYT Co.'s big gift?

2010-01-18T11:41:00.005-05:00

As a "founding partner," the company and members of the controlling Ochs-Sulzberger family contributed $10 million toward construction of the Newseum, a museum about news developed by the Freedom Forum journalism foundation in Washington, D.C. Initially budgeted at $250 million, it eventually cost nearly twice that amount when it opened in 2008 -- three years late. Following is an update on spending by the foundation and the museum.

[The Newseum opened in 2008 in Washington, D.C.]

The non-profit Freedom Forum foundation and its signature project, the Newseum in Washington, D.C., paid $1.4 million in bonuses to its top employees in 2008 -- a year when the foundation's endowment suffered multimillion-dollar losses, and the museum began a series of layoffs that extended through last year, newly released public documents show.

The bonuses included $375,000 to Freedom Forum Chairman and CEO Charles Overby (left), bringing his total 2008 pay to $991,044 in compensation and expenses, the documents show. The museum's then-president, Peter Prichard, got a $225,000 bonus; his total pay and expenses for the year were $665,927, the documents show.

The pay packages emerged in annual Internal Revenue Service tax reports for 2008, made public under IRS regulations. They are the most recent IRS reports filed by the two organizations, so do not include payments for last year. I received copies of the reports over the weekend after requesting them last week from Freedom Forum.

The 2008 bonuses included amounts deferred from the previous five years that were "contingent upon successful completion" of the Washington complex that houses the Newseum, plus Freedom Forum's offices, an apartment building, a restaurant and other facilities on Pennsylvania Avenue, the documents show. For example, Overby got a $100,000 bonus "based on 2007 performance," plus $275,000 in contingent bonuses from 2002-2005, the documents show.

The non-profit journalism foundation was established in 1991 by former Gannett Chairman and CEO Al Neuharth, with $650 million in assets from the old Gannett Foundation. The foundation and the Newseum, a museum about news, are managed by Overby and a number of other former Gannett executives and employees.

The Newseum complex's projected cost started at $250 million. But it mushroomed quickly, ultimately costing $450 million by the time it opened in spring 2008 -- three years late, according to my review last year of Freedom Forum and Newseum documents and IRS reports. Since its opening, the Newseum has struggled to control expenses; layoffs and other measures have reduced staff by 23%.

My review last year showed the foundation had given at least $67,500 to an adoption agency in Cocoa Beach, Fla., started by Neuharth's wife. Those gifts were among hundreds of grants made in 2000-2007 to non-profit groups that seemed to share little in common with the foundation's mission to support free press and free speech.

The 2008 returns show that Neuharth, 85 (left), was paid $225,000 in compensation, and another $231,953 in unspecified expense reimbursements. He did not receive a bonus. Neuharth worked an average of 40 hours per week, and his title is listed simply as "founder,'' the documents show. With his 2008 pay, Freedom Forum has now paid Neuharth nearly $1.3 million in compensation and expenses since 2006 alone, public documents show.

I've asked a Freedom Forum spokesman to explain the criteria for the bonuses, as well as its board of trustees's role in their approval. I also asked about the duties Neuharth performed for his compensation.

Freedom Forum and the Newseum are legally separate entities, each with their own governing boards. (Here's the Newseum's board of trustees.) The two boards have considerable overlap, however, and both include many long-time Neuharth associates; one member is his daughter, Jan Neuharth.

Overby and Prichard, who retired last year, have been the highest-paid employees of the two organizations for several years. In 2007, when no bonuses were paid, Overby got $577,024, and Prichard got $397,690, that year's tax reports showed. Prichard was a former top editor of USA Today before joining Freedom Forum and the Newseum. He was replaced last year by Ken Paulson, who also was USA Today's top editor at the time.

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Freedom Forum documents now available here

2010-01-18T11:40:00.001-05:00

You can now download your own copies of the 2008 Internal Revenue Service reports filed by the Freedom Forum foundation and the Newseum, right here on New York Times Co. Blog. Freedom Forum's is here. And the Newseum's is here. Both documents are in .pdf formats.

Here's a tip: The $1.4 million in bonuses paid to top executives for 2008 are detailed starting on Page 37 of the Newseum's filing.

NYT reportedly ready to charge for online news

2010-01-17T23:06:00.001-05:00

Citing people "familiar with internal deliberations," New York magazine is reporting that Chairman Arthur Sulzberger appears "close" to announcing that the paper will begin charging for website access. "One personal friend of Sulzberger said a final decision could come within days, and a senior newsroom source agreed, adding that the plan could be announced in a matter of weeks,'' the magazine says.

NYT | Private-school beat to gin up 'yakkers'

2010-01-15T14:11:00.004-05:00

Ain't this rich! "Yes, we're finally doing it: Creating a full-time beat covering New York's private schools," New York Times metro section editor Joe Sexton told staff in a memo this week, according to Gawker. "It is, perhaps, the one topic other than real estate that lights up cocktail party conversation."

The memo continues: "Dalton. Brearley. Fieldston. Spence. Collegiate, Horace Mann and Riverdale. . . . They are bastions of aspiration and privilege both, places that inspire fierce competition and intense curiosity, worlds known to few outside their citizens yet critical to the shaping of the wider one. OK, maybe that's a bit much, but we know this: The stories are yakkers that race up the most e-mailed list and get noticed; we're talking about the kids of the people who run the world here."

Save the date: Fourth-quarter earnings out Feb. 10

2010-01-14T15:52:00.003-05:00

In a statement, the company just disclosed that its fourth-quarter and full-year 2009 earnings conference call will be held at 11 a.m. ET on Wednesday, Feb. 10. The company's earnings announcement will be released before the market opens that morning and will be available on Corporate's homepage.

Boston | Ex-pub Ainsley got $1.4 million exit deal; NYT adds no-disparage terms on Sulzberger, others

2010-01-14T14:35:00.009-05:00

The Boston Business Journal's got the details on Steven Ainsley's early-retirement package following his resignation last fall as Boston Globe publisher. Here's today's filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, with all the particulars.

Ainsley's exit deal includes non-disparagement orders applying to him and to senior New York Times Co. executives; these are boilerplate in such agreements, but noteworthy for a company built on free-speech rights. The terms: "Employee agrees not to in any way disparage the company or any other releasee, or make or solicit any comments, statements, or the like to the media or to others."

The document also says, "the following individuals will be advised that they are not to in any way disparage employee, or make or solicit any comments, statements, or the like to the media or to others that may be considered to be derogatory or detrimental to the good name or business reputation of employee: Janet Robinson, Arthur O. Sulzberger, Jr., Michael Golden, Scott Heekin-Canedy, Martin Nisenholtz, Kenneth A. Richieri and James Follo."

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[Image: today's Globe, Newseum]

Times Co. to offer online education certificates

2010-01-14T12:25:00.002-05:00

Tip-toeing ever so slightly in the Washington Post Co.'s direction, the New York Times Co. is now expanding further into the lucrative market of distance education. Inside Higher Ed says the Times will start awarding certificates to students who pay to take its online courses -- "moving beyond its previous involvement, which focused on individual, non-credit courses." The courses are delivered through Epsilen, the company's online course delivery and networking platform, the education trade website reports today.

“Online education is a really robust area,” Felice Nudelman, director of education for the Times, told Inside Higher Ed. “It is, for many institutions, a profit center. And it’s an exciting way to bring together all the content from The New York Times and expertise from our newsroom, and expertise of college and university faculty.”

The Times' deeper forway into the education market follows the Washington Post Co.'s lucrative expansion into college-preparation services via its Kaplan Inc. subsidiary, one of the few bright spots in that company's flagging fortunes.

Ball State University’s undergraduate College of Communications, Information, and Media will begin a six-week course on video storytelling Monday — one of nine courses students must complete in order to earn a certificate toward “emerging media journalism” stamped with the seals of the Times and Ball State. The school in Muncie, Ind., is one of four colleges that have partnered with the Times on certificate programs, and the offerings go beyond the subject of journalism.

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Haiti | How they're playing the story online

2010-01-13T23:13:00.004-05:00

Home pages from about 11 p.m. ET at the three national dailies; which one has the greatest sense of urgency?

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Haiti | How they played the earthquake story

2010-01-13T12:49:00.003-05:00

Yesterday's 7.0 earthquake struck at 5 p.m. ET -- the same time in Haiti -- giving the New York Times Co.'s East Coast papers less time to understand the magnitude of the story. West Coast papers, such as the Press Democrat in California's Santa Rosa, had more time to develop bigger packages. Here's the Press Democrat:

Publisher: Bruce Kyse
Executive Editor: Cathy Barnett
Circulation: 90,000 daily
Contact us list

And here's Florida's Gainesville Sun:

Publisher: Jim Doughton
Executive Editor: Jim Osteen
Circulation: 56,000 daily
Contact us list

Got an NYT Co. front page to recommend? Find it in the Newseum's page one database, then post a link in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

Blogger asks: How long can pubs afford to print?

2010-01-13T12:48:00.000-05:00

Widely read blogger Alan Mutter has crunched reams of data to arrive at his sobering conclusion about the future of newspapers. Much of his analysis today rests on the outlook for advertising revenue this year and beyond. He offers three scenarios:

Optimistic Case – Ad sales drop 10% in 2010, are unchanged in 2011, and then grow at 2% a year in 2012 and each subsequent year.
Middle Case – Ad sales fall 15% in 2011, slide 5% in 2012, and then decline 2% in 2012 and each subsequent year.
Pessimistic Case – Ad sales plunge 20% in 2010, drop 15% in 2011, and then decline 5% in 2012 and each subsequent year.

Now, it's your turn: Which of Mutter's three scenarios best describes the outlook for the New York Times Co.? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

In posthumous memoir, Boyd said settling scores

2010-01-12T19:54:00.007-05:00

The late New York Times managing editor, Gerald Boyd, is especially vengeful in his attack on current culture editor Jon Landman, who emerged from the Jayson Blair scandal as a hero.

Boyd (left), whose book -- My Times in Black and White -- is being published posthumously (he died three years ago) has none of that, according to the New York Observer. "In the newsroom,'' Boyd writes, "Landman, as author of the 'stop Jayson from writing' memo, was a hero. He was benefiting from revisionist history that I had seen the note and ignored it. No one disputed the falsehood, especially not Landman."

Boyd accuses Landman of being "a bully-smug, aggressive, a master of office politics-and one of the primary enemies that celebrated his ouster. According to Boyd, Landman was a man of no 'decency and integrity,''' the Observer says.

Hmmmm. Accusing someone of being a master of office politics might be a terrible insult -- or a high compliment, depending on whether you share the popular view that the Times newsroom is full of sharp-elbowed Type-A personalities.

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Stock | Newspaper shares now in broad selloff

2010-01-12T16:14:00.000-05:00

Updated at 4:14 p.m., with closing prices: Following a strong year-to-date rally, newspaper stocks were down sharply today, with several companies faring worse than broader stock market indexes. Companies I follow, with closing prices moments ago:

Gannett: $16.40, down 5%
New York Times Co.: $13.86, down 6%
News Corp.: $15.89, down 4%

Compare that with the Dow Jones Industrial Average, off less than 1%, and the S&P 500, down 1%.

Layoffs | Downside of upside advertising forecasts

2010-01-12T00:01:00.001-05:00

This is a cautionary tale about the rosy advertising revenue forecasts New York Times Co. and other industry executives made last month -- forecasts that have sent newspaper stocks to new 52-week highs. NYT Co. shares, for one, ended yesterday at $14.67, another closing high.

McClatchy CEO Gary Pruitt was one of those executives speaking to the UBS media stock analysts conference. Editor & Publisher quoted his parting words for critics who said McClatchy and some of its peers would be bankrupt by now: "They were wrong."

Now, however, it turns out that better revenue times aren't a guarantee there won't be layoffs. Yesterday, McClatchy's Sacramento Bee and The News & Observer in Raleigh disclosed that they're considering a layoff of dozens of employees.

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NYT | Whistling past graveyard over WSJ move?

2010-01-11T14:43:00.004-05:00

New York Times reporters say there's not a lot of talk in their newsroom about The Wall Street Journal's soon-to-launch New York City bureau, according to New York magazine. "The Times already has the apparatus to dominate city coverage," one staffer told the weekly. "That takes years to build, and the Journal doesn't have any of that."

The NYT was first to break the news about the Journal's move onto its backyard. New York says: "While originally reported to launch in April, it looks like the bureau will begin reporting its own stories by February. Its goal is to compete with the Times on its own turf: the news, politics, and culture of New York City (and State!). Starting with a reported staff of 12 and a budget of $15 million, obviously that's a tall order."

The magazine is wondering whether Sewell Chan's recently announced transfer to the NYT's Washington beat from the successful City Room Blog is good news for the Journal's nascent bureau.

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Wilmington | Fronting today

2010-01-11T13:47:00.004-05:00

New York Times Co.'s Star-News

Wilmington, N.C.
Publisher: Robert Gruber
Executive Editor: Robyn Tomlin
Circulation: 53,000-circulation daily, with 61,000 on Sundays
Contact us list

Got an NYT Co. front page to recommend? Find it in the Newseum's page one database, then post a link in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

[Image: Newseum]

Boston | Totten, an audit -- and $5,000 in meals

2010-01-11T12:21:00.003-05:00

When the Boston Newspaper Guild removed President Dan Totten (left), observers wondered if his ouster might have been payback over his role in botched talks with the New York Times Co. over demands for $10 million in union givebacks.

Media blogger Dan Kennedy joined in that speculation. Now, he's uncovered results of a U.S. Department of Labor audit letter, showing that "irregularities under Totten’s leadership may have been significant." It's a story about $5,000 in meals at Boston-area restaurants.

At the time of his expulsion last month, Totten said he would appeal. Is that why the Guild's website still lists him as the chapter's president?

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Reuters: Mexico's Slim empire 'loses luster'

2010-01-10T16:41:00.003-05:00

In a new story today, Reuters reports that technology, regulation and growing competitors are chipping away at Telmex, the cornerstone of big New York Times Co. investor Carlos Slim's telecommunications holdings, and "once-frantic sales growth" at his America Movil wireless operator is tapering off.

"He has a collection of crowns and a collection of jewels," telecommunications consultant Ernesto Piedras told Reuters. "But any company has its business cycle. His most dynamic phase has passed."

Slim (above) plowed $250 million into the NYT Co. after the company agreed to pay an interest rate of more than 14%, The Wall Street Journal reported in July.

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Boston | Publisher Mayer discloses stock holdings

2010-01-09T16:54:00.007-05:00

Boston Globe Publisher Christopher Mayer has for the first time disclosed his stockholdings in the New York Times Co., in an initial filing yesterday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. I believe he made this filing because his appointment as chief executive of the Globe last fall meant he had become an officer of the Times parent company.

Mayer, 47 (left), directly owns 6,052 shares in the form of so-called restricted stock units, the Form 3 filing shows; he takes full ownership -- or "vesting" -- in stages through February 2011.

The document also shows that he holds options on 60,819 shares. Much of that is worthless right now, as it appears the exercise price -- the amount he'd pay if he exercised his right to buy the shares -- is $23.83 on all but 9,400 shares, as I read the filing. That's a price well above the stock's closing price of $14.11 on Friday. Unless and until shares trade well into the range of $30 and up, Mayer is unlikely to take advantage of any of these options, it appears. Still, he has until as long as February 2019 to exercise some of these options, the filing shows.

Mayer was promoted to publisher and head of the Times Co.'s New England Media Group in October.

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Board member Cohen won't run for re-election

2010-01-09T16:12:00.010-05:00

A New York Times Co. director and member of the Ochs-Sulzberger family, Daniel H. Cohen, has told Chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. that he won't stand for re-election at the company's yet-to-be scheduled annual meeting this year.

Cohen (left) also is a trustee of the family trust that holds a majority of the special Class B shares, the company said yesterday, in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission disclosing Cohen's decision. Those shares give trustees the right to elect 70% of the NYT Co.'s 14-member board of directors, allowing the family to control the enterprise. The trustees have told the company they intend to "advise'' the board's nominating and governance committee on a suggested nominee to replace Cohen, the filing says.

Sulzberger and Cohen are cousins. Cohen, about 57 years old, has been a board member less than three years, a relatively short time. A former New York Times executive, he was nominated in February 2007 to fill the seat that had been held by Sulzberger's sister, Cathy J. Sulzberger, who had been a board member for five years. She chose to not run for re-election.

Cohen is a fourth-generation member of the family, The Wall Street Journal said in its story about the director's move. The family's ties to the company date back to 1896, when Adolph Simon Ochs acquired control of the paper. Cohen founded DeepSee LLC, an oceanic exploration and submarine leasing company, in 2007. From 1999 to 2006, he was president of Dan Cohen & Sons LLC, a television production company that focused on reality series and programs, the company said at the time he was nominated to the board.

Cohen was senior vice president over advertising of the New York Times from 1996 to 1999, before Sulzberger removed him from that job. He had held several other positions at the Times company in the advertising, circulation and corporate planning departments beginning in 1983.

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[Photo: NYT Co.]

Protecting local flank, NYT expands City Room Blog

2010-01-08T12:40:00.011-05:00

As The Wall Street Journal moves deeper onto its local turf, The New York Times said today that it's beefing up its two-year-old City Room Blog, with more features and a new top editor. "In the coming weeks,'' the NYT says in a statement, "City Room will roll out a series of new features, including daily columns that will delve deeply into the workings of major New York City institutions like the police department, the schools and the courts, and an ambitiously expanded daily look at what the city's blogosphere is talking about."

Sewell Chan (left), the founding bureau chief, will be moving to a new assignment within the Times. His replacement will be Andy Newman, a veteran Times reporter, "who has excelled in both the print newspaper and its online enhancements,'' the paper says.

The Times' move follows the WSJ's reported decision last fall to open a New York City bureau, staffed with about a dozen reporters.

City Room mixes original reporting with reader conversations. Among the website's most active blogs, it posted 3,314 items and received 82,535 comments last year. Since inception, it has consistently ranked among the paper's top five most popular blogs.

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[Photo: NYT Co.]