Background:

The New York Times (abbreviated as The NYT or The Times, and also referred to as The Gray Lady) is an American newspaper based in New York City with a global influence and readership. It was founded in 1851, and has won 122 Pulitzer Prizes, more than any other newspaper. It had the largest combined print-and-digital circulation of any daily newspaper in the United States. The New York Times is ranked 17th in the world by circulation as of 2016.

The paper is owned by The New York Times Company, which is publicly traded but primarily controlled by the Ochs-Sulzberger family through a dual-class share structure. It has been owned by the family since 1896; A.G. Sulzberger, the paper's publisher, and his father, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr., the company's chairman, are the fourth and fifth generation of the family to helm the paper.

Since 2008, The New York Times has been organized into the following sections: News, Editorials/Opinions-Columns/Op-Ed, New York (metropolitan), Business, Sports of The Times, Arts, Science, Styles, Home, Travel, and other features. On Sunday, The New York Times is supplemented by the Sunday Review, The New York Times Book Review, The New York Times Magazine, and T: The New York Times Style Magazine.

The New York Times Company is an American media company which publishes its namesake, The New York Times. Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr. has served as chairman since 1997. It is headquartered in Manhattan, New York.

Fiscal:

Market Share

As of their 2017 Annual Report, NYT “digital-only subscriptions totaled approximately 2,644,000 as of December 31, 2017, an increase of approximately 42% compared with December 25, 2016.” The New York Times is the third largest newspaper by circulation in the US.

As of May 9th, 2018 on MarketWatch. Check out their Morning Star Profile here.

Ad Sponsorship

According to their 2017 Annual Report, “The Times had the largest market share in 2017 in print advertising revenue among a national newspaper set that consists of USA Today, The Wall Street Journal and The Times, according to MediaRadar, an independent agency that measures advertising sales volume and estimates advertising revenue. On our web and mobile platforms, display advertising comprises banners, video, rich media and other interactive ads. Display advertising also includes branded content on The Times’s platforms. Branded content is longer form marketing content that is distinct from The Times’s editorial content. In 2017, digital and print display advertising represented approximately 87% of our advertising revenues.”

The consider themselves a subscription-first business and reportedly ended 2017 with over $1 billion of subscription revenue. The NYT set a goal of reaching $800 million of annual digital revenue by 2020.

You can check out their advertising rates here.

Political Spending

NYT has not donated to any political campaigns since 2014. You can check out their profile here. The NYT has endorsed a presidential candidate since 1860. You can check out their endorsements here.

Social:

Audience Views

According to a study by Pew, NYT’s audience leans to the left, see the chart below. The public trust in journalism produced by the Times is also skewed from the left to moderates.

Pew Research

Diversity of Guest Correspondents

The NYT took some heat in the 2016 election in regards to their coverage of the Bernie Sanders campaign. You can read about that here, here, and here. The charges are over unfair and biased coverage. In regards to the diversity of viewpoints, NYT is not known for representing a wide range of views in either the left or right direction. Check out this in-depth Huffington Post article for more information, as well as this article on Vox.

According to Media Bias, they rank NYT as a left leaning publication, but it scores very highly on factual reporting.

Diversity

Despite a robust page on their website that speaks to a commitment to diversity, the NYT has been accused (often by its own employees) the commitment being corporate lip-speak. You can check out their official policies here. According to their official release on their Diversity & Inclusion Page, “Company-wide, 61 percent of our new hires in 2017 were women, and 39 percent were people of color.” However, a study by FastCompany notes that the diversity at the NYT hasn’t improved in at least 3 years, and has actually decreased between 2016-2017. According to a 2014 survey by the Women’s Media Center researchers found that the NYT had the least bylines written by women of the US’ 10 largest newspapers. The study also found that 69% of stories were written by men and 75% of opinion writers were also men.

Times Executive Editor Jill Abramson has publicly acknowledged the need for more female staffers and pledged to make that happen, saying “During my tenure, half of the news masthead of the Times—traditionally the highest ranking editors—are women. That’s a significant milestone. While the NYT has no shortage of female applicants, Abramson said she “is concerned that comparatively few women apply for newsroom technology jobs.”

Women's Media Center (emphasis mine)

There have been diversity lawsuits against the CEO of NYT (Mark Thompson). You can read about it here. In an OP-Ed by NYT employee, Liz Spayd, she has said “Many journalists hoped a new era was beginning two and a half years ago, when Baquet became the first African-American to oversee the newsroom. But whatever progress has been made is only beginning to show up on a scorecard. Overall, newsroom diversity is at 22 percent, up slightly but below newsrooms in most big metropolitan areas. And of those who head departments here, only three are people of color.”

Scandals

You can read about the scandals NYT has been embroiled in over the years here.

This past year, the NYT has decided to eliminate their public editor position, which was created after their plagiarism scandal in 2003. This has raised scrutiny among the professional journalism world, with Andrew Seaman, the ethics chair at the Society of Professional Journalists, saying “The public editor is more important than ever as trust in the press remains low. It’s about engagement, it’s about accountability.” in a tweet.

CSR Rating

NYT has received a score of 49 out of 100 on CSR Hub. You can check out their social responsibility policies here. NYT has a written commitment to the environment, education initiatives, and they run a non-profit organization called The Neediest Cases which focuses on people and families in financial distress.

Governance:

Governing Board

Robert E. Denham- Presiding Director, Compensation (Chair), Finance (Chair) and Nominating & Governance

Denham is a member of the board of directors for Chevron, Fomento Económico Mexicano, S.A. de C.V., and Oaktree Capital Group, LLC. Check out his Bloomberg profile here. Check out his Chevron profile here.

Hays Golden- Board Member, Finance

Golden is a member of the Ochs-Sulzberger family, through his father, Michael Golden. He is the current VP of Commercial Underwriting at AIG.

Rachel Glaser- Board Member, Audit & Compensation

She is also the CFO of Etsy, and the previous CFO of Leaf Group. Check her Bloomberg profile here.

Steven B. Green- Board Member, Finance

Green is a general partner of Ordinance Capital L.P. (an investment firm) since 1997. Before that, he was president of Captain Gardner House (real estate development property) and the owner of Medical Transportation Inc.

Joichi Ito- Board Member, Director, Audit & Technology & Innovation

Check out his Bloomberg Profile here. Ito serves on the boards of directors for PureTech Health and Digital Garage, Inc., and is a former director of Sony Corporation and Tucows Inc.

James A. Kohlberg- Board Member, Finance and Nominating & Governance (Chair)

Read his Bloomberg Profile here. Kohlberg is chairman of Halogen Media Networks, and as chairman of ClearEdge Power from 2004 to 2015. He also serves on the boards of directors of Open Road Integrated Media, MarketCast Holdings, LLC and numerous Kohlberg & Company companies.

Brian P. McAndrews- Board Member, Nominating & Governance, Technology & Innovation (Chair)

You can read his Bloomberg Profile here. He currently serves on the board of Grubhub, and is the former CEO of Pandora Music, as well as a former VP of Microsoft and ABC.

John Rogers- Board Member, Finance & Compensation

Rogers founded Ariel Investments, LLC and currently serves as its chairman, CEO, and CIO. Before that, he was a stockbroker for William Blair & Company. He sits on the corporate boards of Exelon and McDonald’s and serves as a trustee to the University of Chicago. You can read his wikipedia page here. Bloomberg profiles here and here.

Arthur O. Sulzberger, Jr.- Board Member, Chairman of the Board

He succeeded his father as Chairman of the Board in 1997, and his son is to succeed him as Publisher as of 2018.

Arthur Gregg (A.G.) Sulzberger- Publisher

The Publisher oversees both newsroom and company operations of the NYT. He is the sixth member of the Ochs-Sulzberger family to serve as Publisher.

Mark Thompson- President & CEO

Before joining NYT Company, Thompson was the Director-General of the BBC. Mr. Thompson has been accused more than once of age, gender, and racial discrimination. You can read about that here.

Doreen A. Toben- Chair of Audit & Compensation

Toben was the VP and CFO of Verizon Communications from 2002 to 2009. Before that, she was a Senior VP and CFO for their Telecom Group. According to Bloomberg, “She is the Director of ARRIS International plc from 2013. Ms. Toben is also a Member of the Boards of Directors of ARRIS Group, Inc., since 2013 and Tapestry, Inc.” You can check her Bloomberg Profile here.

Rebecca Van Dyck- Nominating & Governance; Technology & Innovation

Van Dyck is the CMO of AR/VR at Facebook, and of Oculus at Facebook as of 2017. Previously, she was VP of consumer and brand marketing for Facebook from 2012-2017. She was Senior VP and global chief marketing officer at Levi Strauss & Co. for 2011-2012, and before that she was the Senior Director of worldwide marketing and communications at Apple. She has also worked at Nike, Wieden + Kennedy, and TBWA Worldwide Inc.

Organizational Management

Top down.

Stakeholders

Yahoo Finance as of June 1st, 2018

The Sulzberger family owns roughly 19% of NYT via a class of voting shares. In 2009, NYT Company borrowed $250 million from Carlos Slim (the 7th richest person in the world, then the second richest). You can read about Carlos Slim here. According to the deal, Slim will have no representation on NYT’s board, or shares with special voting rights. He owns roughly 17% of the common shares.

The other largest owner of NYT shares is the CEO, Mark Thompson. Michael Golden is a member of the Sulzberger family.

Leadership

Mark Thompson- President and CEO

He is the former Director-General of the BBC.

William Bardeen- Senior Vice President of Strategy & Development

Bardeen is also a board observer for WordPress.com and betaworks.

Arthur Gregg Sulzberger- Publisher

See Governing Board section for more info.

Dean Baquet- Executive Editor

He holds the highest position in The Times’s newsroom and oversees The New York Times news report in all forms. He won a Pulitzer prize in 1988 for documenting corruption in Chicago’s City Council.

Joseph Kahn- Managing Editor

He has won many journalism awards for his reporting on China.

James Bennet- Editor, Editorial Page

He is the former President and Editor-in-Chief of The Atlantic.

Roland A. Caputo- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

He has worked in various positions with NYT and NYT Company for 32 years.

Meredith Kopit-Levien- Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer

She also served as chief revenue officer at Forbes Media, is an executive committee member of the board of the Ad Council, as well as on the board of the IAB, and is a co-chair of the Lincoln Center Media and Entertainment Council.

Ellen Shultz- Executive Vice President, Talent and Inclusion

Shultz worked for Media General as VP and head of Human Resources. Before that, she worked at Time Inc., as VP of HR Operations and Systems.

Diane Brayton- Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary

Brayton was VP and counsel in the legal department of Credit Suisse First Boston, and an associate Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton (a law firm). Between 1996 and 1997, she was a clerk for the Honorable W. Eugene Davis of the United States Court of Appeals, for the Fifth Circuit.

David Perpich- President and General Manager, The Wirecutter

Perpich leads all aspects of the business and editorial operations of the Wirecutter, which was acquired by the Times Company in October of 2016.

Stephen Dunbar-Johnson- President, International

He is the former Publisher of the International Herald Tribune.

Nick Rockwell- Executive Vice President, Chief Technology Officer

He is formerly of Condé Nast.

Laura Evans- Senior Vice President, Data & Insights

She is the former VP of audience development and data science at the Scripps Networks Interactive.

Ethics

NYT has a dedicated standards and ethics page (here). They have a document about maintaining their

journalistic integrity (last updated 2008), and they have also produced an Ethical Journalism handbook. They have also released guidelines for the kinds of ads they will accept.

General:

Size

According to LinkedIn and Glassdoor, they have 1000-500 employees. According to their 2017 Annual Report, they employed 1,450 journalists reporting from 160 countries.

They own a large building in New York City.

Readership/Viewers

Their 2017 Annual Report states that the NYT had an average of 97 million unique US viewers , and 136 million unique visitors globally. They have also seen paid digital subscriptions increase 42% from 2016 to 2017, totaling at 2,644,000. In total (print and digital), they have 3.6 million subscribers worldwide. As of late 2017, NYT has more digital subscribers than any other American newspaper.