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The New York Times Co. today reported $55.2M in Q4 net income compared to a year ago $56.8M loss and a 265K surge in digital subscribers, the biggest gain since the 2016 presidential election.
Paid-only digital subs rose 27.1 percent from the 2017 Q4 period. Of the 265K new subscribers, 172K were for the news site with the others split between cooking and crossword products.
Mark Thompson CEO said the NYTC ended 2018 with 3.4M digital subscriptions and 4.3M total subscriptions.
The company chalked up $709M in 2018 digital revenues, which is three-quarters of the way to achieving its five-year goal of $800M by 2020.
In a sign of bullishness, Thompson plans to grow the subscription base to more than 10M by 2025.
Wall Street cheered the NYTC performance, bidding its stock up 13.6 percent to a 52-week high of $30.56.
The stock traded as low as $21.34 during the past year.
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Michael Kaminer, who was responsible for the Observer’s “Power List” for the past 13 years, has cut ties with the publication... The New York Times Company continues the march toward its goal of 15 million subscribers by the end of 2027... The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is providing more than $6 million in funding to eight organizations working to address the challenges local news and information environments face along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Conservative outlets Fox News, Newsmax and the Daily Caller are holding back from signing Pete Hegseth’s edict restricting press access in the Pentagon... CBS News sees the first executive departure of the Bari Weiss era as head of standards and practices Claudia Milne exits... Indiana University shuts down the print version of The Indiana Daily Student.
Rothschild family plans to unload 26.7 percent stake in The Economist... STAT, a digital media company that focuses the life sciences, brings back Damian Garde, who anchored its biotech newsletter and podcast from 2016 to 2024... High Times officially resumes print publication (following its 2024 shutdown) with the release of a limited-edition, collectible 50th anniversary issue. 
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