New York Times Co. adds 300,000 digital subscribers in the quarter

The New York Times Company added 300,000 paid digital subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2023, the company said Wednesday, helping boost annual digital subscription revenue to more than $1 billion for the first time.

The Times reported total revenue of $676.2 million in the final three months of the year, virtually unchanged from a year earlier. Adjusted operating income rose 8.5 percent to $154 million.

It was “a strong year for The Times that showed the power of our strategy to be the essential subscription for every curious person seeking to understand and engage with the world,” Meredith Kopit Levien, the company’s president and CEO, said in a statement. .

The company has focused in recent years on offering a suite of products to subscribers: its flagship news report, as well as games like Wordle and Spelling Bee; its product review site, Wirecutter; a recipe app; and The Athletic, its sports news website.

The Athletic, which The Times bought two years ago for $550 million, continued to lose money in the fourth quarter. But its operating loss narrowed to $4.4 million, from $9.6 million a year earlier. The Athletic’s revenue grew 31.3 percent to $38.5 million.

At the end of the year, The Times had 10.36 million subscribers, 9.7 million of them exclusively digital. The company has a stated goal of 15 million subscribers by the end of 2027.

The company said it had $709.2 million in cash and marketable securities at the end of 2023.

Much of the news media industry is in crisis, with publishers such as The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post and Business Insider laying off journalists or offering acquisitions in recent months. Headwinds include a decline in the number of readers reaching news sites through social media platforms, lower user interest in news and a difficult market for advertising.

Advertising was a weak point for The Times in the fourth quarter. Total advertising revenue decreased 8.4 percent to $164.1 million. Digital advertising fell 3.7 percent and print advertising fell 16.2 percent, and the company said it expected further declines in the first three months of this year.

Times shares fell more than 8 percent Wednesday after the earnings report was released.

The number of print media subscribers has continued to decline. There were 730,000 at the end of 2022 and 660,000 at the end of 2023.