March 29, 2024

Media Decoder Blog: New York Times Company Plans to Sell The Boston Globe

The New York Times Company plans to sell The Boston Globe and other New England properties, allowing the media company to focus energy and resources on its flagship newspaper.

The Times Company announced Wednesday that it had retained Evercore Partners to manage the sale of the New England Media Group, anchored by The Globe, Boston.com, The Worcester Telegram Gazette and GlobeDirect, a direct mail marketing company.

Mark Thompson, president and chief executive of the Times Company, called The Globe and the Worcester Telegram Gazette “outstanding newspapers,” but in a statement he said selling the newspapers “demonstrates our commitment to concentrate our strategic focus and investment on The New York Times brand and its journalism.”

The Times Company has in recent years sold assets unrelated to The Times. In May, the company received $63 million for its remaining stake in the Fenway Sports Group, the company that owns the Boston Red Sox. Last year, the company sold its 16 regional newspapers, including The Gainesville Sun and The Sarasota Herald Tribune, to Halifax Media Holdings for $143 million.

The Times paid $1.1 billion for The Globe in 1993 and for years the Boston daily brought prestige and profits to the company. But recently the newspaper has suffered in an industrywide decline in circulation and advertising revenue. The paper’s circulation has diminished by nearly half in the last decade to a weekday readership of 230,351, from 438,621 in 2002.

Digital subscriptions to The Boston Globe and BostonGlobe.com grew by 8 percent, to about 28,000 subscribers in the company’s fourth quarter.

The Times Company is expected to seek a purchaser in an auction, but in a press release said “there can be no assurance that any transaction will take place.”

Suitors have approached the Times Company about purchasing The Globe in the past. In 2009, the company turned down a local investment group’s bid of around $35 million and the assumption of pension obligations for The Globe and The Worcester Telegram Gazette.

Article source: http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/20/new-york-times-company-plans-to-sell-the-boston-globe/?partner=rss&emc=rss

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