Search »

NYT Co. Scraps Plan to Scrap ‘Boston Globe’

The Boston Globe failed to draw high bids and The New York Times Co. has decided to hang onto the newspaper.

NYT Co. chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. said last month that the Globe’s finances had improved enough that selling the paper wasn’t essential if it did not draw high enough offers. Union concessions have helped lead the newspaper to more secure financial ground, and after “careful consideration and analysis,” the company has opted not to sell, Bloomberg writes.

Northeastern University professor Dan Kennedy, who has been following The Globe’s struggles, says it may be better for the paper to remain a part of The New York Times Co. than to be purchased by a new owner who may enact even more job cuts, but added (via The New York Times) that the company “has its work cut out for it in terms of rebuilding credibility with the employees and the community.”

The Globe has axed staff sharply and frozen salaries for several years. In June, the largest union, the Boston Newspaper Guild, rejected a package of cuts which included a wage reduction of about 8.4%; the NYT Co. responded with a 23% salary cut across the board. The guild eventually accepted an adapted proposal, but the bitter negotiations left a lack of goodwill among employees.

The NYT Co. had threatened in April to shutter The Globe if unions couldn’t agree to $20 million in concessions.

NYT Co. chief executive Janet Robinson thanked employees for helping boost finances at the paper, but said there was more work to be done in order to improve revenue, and she refused to rule out more staff cuts, according to The Boston Globe.