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The New York Times Co. today reported first-quarter operating profit rose 22.4 percent to $34.1M on a 3.8 percent jump in revenues to $413.9M. Net income soared 66.2 percent to $21.9M.
Subscription revenues advanced 7.5 percent to $260.6M, offsetting the 3.4 percent dip in ad sales to $125.7M.
CEO Mark Thompson noted that the Times added 139K digital-only subscribers during the period, up 25.5 percent from the year-ago period.
Subscriptions to the NYT’s news products accounted for 99K of the new customers, while cooking and crossword sites accounted for the rest.
Thompson said digital advertising slipped six percent during the quarter compared with the last year’s strong performance that was driven by the fall-out from the post-election and Trump inauguration.
Trump Media and Technology Group Corp. has replaced CEO and former California Congressman Devin Nunes with Kevin McGurn, a seasoned media sales executive.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is being bought by the Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism, a nonprofit that is the parent organization of the Baltimore Banner... The British Broadcasting Corporation is axing approximately 2,000 jobs, about 10 percent of its work force... Snap, the company behind Snapchat, is also succumbing to layoff fever, announcing plans to lay off 16 percent of its employees, about 1,000 people.
CBS News Radio will go off the air on May 22, part of the axe-swinging managerial plan put into play by CBS editor-in-chief Bari Weiss... The Economist, which was first published in 1843, is changing hands. Canadian billionaire Stephen Smith has agreed to acquire a 26.9 percent stake in the publication from Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild, her family and family foundation... Nexstar Media Group says it has closed its acquisition of TEGNA, the broadcast, digital media and marketing services company that was formed in 2015, when the Gannett Company split into two publicly traded companies.
USA TODAY brings on Jamie Stockwell as VP of news, effective March 30. Stockwell was most recently deputy managing editor of news for the Washington Post... YouTube expands its likeness detection capabilities to a pilot group of government officials, journalists and political candidates... The AP Fund for Journalism adds 50 news organizations to its local news program, bringing the total number of participating newsrooms to 100. 
Versant Media Group, the NBCUniversal cable TV spin-off, today reported its first financial results as 2025 revenues dipped 5.3 percent to $6.7B and standalone EBITDA dropped 9.1 percent to $2.2B.
