The New York Times Company mentioned on Wednesday that it gained multiple million digital-only subscribers final 12 months, serving to to elevate income from the 12 months earlier than regardless of headwinds going through the media business.
The new subscribers, who don’t embody the roughly a million who got here with the acquisition of the sports activities web site The Athletic final February, carry The Times’s whole variety of paying subscribers to 9.6 million. The firm has set a aim of 15 million by the tip of 2027.
The firm mentioned it had added 240,000 internet digital-only subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2022, for a complete of 8.8 million. The firm had 730,000 print subscribers, down from 795,000 a 12 months earlier.
“It was our second-best year for net digital subscriber additions, behind only 2020,” Meredith Kopit Levien, the chief govt of The Times, mentioned in an announcement. “Importantly, with each passing quarter, we saw more proof that there is strong demand for a bundle of our news and lifestyle products,” she added.
The Times reported an adjusted working revenue of $347.9 million for 2022, a small enhance from the earlier 12 months that beat the corporate’s estimates. Annual income was $2.3 billion, an 11.3 % enhance from 2021.
The firm reported whole income of $667.5 million for the fourth quarter of 2022, a 12.3 % enhance from a 12 months earlier. Subscriptions accounted for $414.1 million, a 17.9 % enhance.
Advertising revenues had been largely flat at $179.2 million for the quarter, amid a slowdown in advert spending throughout the publishing business that has led to layoff bulletins at a number of media corporations in latest weeks. The Times mentioned digital promoting income got here in at $111.9 million, in contrast with $111.1 million the earlier 12 months, whereas print promoting income elevated 2.6 %.
Because of a change in the corporate’s fiscal calendar, the fourth quarter had six extra days than it did in 2021. Adjusted for the additional days, whole income elevated 7.2 % whereas promoting revenues fell 2.4 %.
Total working prices elevated almost 10 % to $548.3 million in the quarter, from $500.1 million a 12 months earlier. The firm mentioned know-how prices, which embody product improvement, had elevated 30.1 %, whereas gross sales and advertising prices had decreased 36 %.
The Times faces stress from an activist investor, ValueAct, to extra aggressively promote its bundled subscriptions, which embody Cooking, Games and Wirecutter in addition to the core digital news app. ValueAct disclosed in August that it had constructed an almost 7 % stake in The Times.
The firm mentioned it anticipated digital subscription income in the primary quarter of 2023 to extend 13 to 16 % from a 12 months in the past, although it forecast a lower in promoting income.
The Athletic, which The Times purchased for $550 million, continued to lose cash, with an adjusted working lack of $6.9 million in the fourth quarter. It has misplaced about $36 million for the reason that acquisition. In 2021, earlier than The Times acquired it, The Athletic misplaced $55 million. It generated $85.7 million in income in 2022, up from about $65 million the 12 months earlier than.
The Times introduced on Wednesday that its board had permitted a brand new $250 million Class A share repurchase program. The board permitted a separate $150 million in inventory buybacks final February. So far, the corporate has repurchased $112 million in shares.
The firm additionally introduced a rise of the quarterly dividend, to 11 cents a share, up 2 cents from the earlier quarter.