The Drum Awards for Marketing - Extended Deadline

-d -h -min -sec

New York Times extends retrenchment with 100 job losses

Author

By John Glenday, Reporter

October 2, 2014 | 2 min read

The New York Times has announced it is to continue a programme of layoffs and cutbacks with the loss of a further 100 posts from its newsroom and discontinuation of its NYT Opinion app just four months after its launch.

It is the latest in a series of belt tightening moves by the paper as it battles to reallocate resources away from its flagging print operation toward digital initiatives.

The NYT has struggled to attract subscribers in sufficient volume to cover its costs a position which has also seen the publisher relegate its NYT Now app to a smartphone only product aimed at younger readers.

In a morning memo to the US papers 1,330 newsroom employees NYT publisher Arthur Sulzberger and chief executive Mark Thompson announced that 7.5 per cent of their posts would go to make ends meet after its print ad revenue plunged 64 per cent in 2013 to $17.3bn.

The pace of decline may have halted in more recent months however with the business reporting ‘flat’ ad revenue for the current quarter.

Another glimmer of hope emanated from 40,000 net new digital subscribers drawn over the same period, predominantly courtesy of the iPhone NYT Now app which gives access to its top stories.

Trending

Industry insights

View all
Add your own content +