New York Times Company Posts a 2nd-Quarter Profit
By CHRISTINE HAUGHNEY
Published: August 1, 2013

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/02/business/media/new-york-times-company-swings-to-a-profit.html?_r=0

The sale of the iconic brand The Washington Post created enormous discussion this past week. The challenge faced by these leading companies in markets that are dramatically changed due to technology is profound. This article talks about efforts made by another iconic brand, The New York Times. Basically, the effort seems to be changing and re-branding the delivery method for its profound content. The content is still the key to their future success and whether people will pay for it on line. I do and it is well worth it:

• The New York Times Company swung to a profit in the second quarter on stronger circulation revenue and lower operating costs, but continued weakness in advertising weighed on results.
• Print advertising at the company’s newspapers, which include The New York Times, The Boston Globe and The International Herald Tribune, declined 6.8 percent, and digital advertising fell 2.7 percent. Digital advertising now accounts for 24.7 percent of the company’s total advertising revenue.
• The number of paid subscribers to the Web site, e-reader and other digital editions of The Times and The International Herald Tribune grew to 699,000, a jump of more than 35 percent from the period a year earlier
• Since Mr. Thompson joined The Times in November, he has focused on re-branding The Times as a global operation.
       o the company announced it would sell the New England Media Group, which includes The Boston Globe, Boston.com, The Worcester Telegram & Gazette and Globe Direct, a direct-mail marketing company. Bids for the properties were due in July but a sale has not been announced.
               o The Times also announced in February that it would rename The International Herald Tribune, its 125-year-old newspaper based in Paris, The International New York Times. It also will unveil a new Web site for international audiences in the coming months.
• The company has also continued to increase its plans to charge readers for content. In June, the company started to charge non-subscribers who want to read more than three articles a day on The New York Times apps for mobile devices.