The New York Times Company (NYT) Hits 700,000 Paid Digital Subscribers

The New York Times Company (NYSE:NYT) CEO Mark Thompson gave a commencement speech at Columbia University recently where he discussed the success of the company’s digital subscription strategy despite skepticism from critics.  Thompson said that the media criticized that The New York Times’ “meter paywall” would be a disaster when it launched in 2011.  He pointed out that this is now the standard for the rest of the newspaper industry.

Continue reading →

Dynamic Yield Raises $2 Million

Dynamic Yield is an audience personalization company that helps online publisher companies and e-commerce companies increase revenues.  Dynamic Yield’s Audience, Structure, and Serve modules makes it possible for publishers, e-retailers, and web apps with flexibility in maximizing user value and overall site revenues.

Continue reading →

Facebook That Their Algorithms Suppresses Unpaid Content

Over the weekend, New York Times writer Nick Bilton wrote an article about how the engagement on his Facebook posts are dropping.  Facebook responded by writing an article called Fact Check.  Bilton said that he is seeing a drop in likes and shares from subscribers.  He said that he saw an immediate jump when he paid $7 to promote the article.  Bilton questioned how Facebook surfaces items in the News Feed as a result.

Continue reading →

REPORT: Donald Trump Wants To Buy The New York Times

Real estate mogul Donald Trump is holding meetings about buying out The New York Times according to New York Magazine.  The shares of The New York Times moved only slightly lower in early trading, which means that investors were not taking the NY Mag report about Donald Trump buying the company seriously at all.  The New York Magazine even described the acquisition as “improbable.”

Continue reading →

WATCH: Hurricane Sandy Timelapse From The New York Times Building

The New York Times uploaded this video today that shows a time-lapse of Hurricane Sandy hitting New York City.  The video was taken from the top of The New York Times Building.  You will see how the violent storm takes out the electricity at a lot of the buildings at the same time throughout the roughly 4.5 minute minute long video.  You should look at the 1:04-1:10 mark of the video which is around 7:45-8AM this past Monday.
Continue reading →

Confirmed: IAC Acquires About.com For $300 Million

It is confirmed that InterActiveCorp has acquired About.com for $300 million from The New York Times.  The acquisition includes About.com, ConsumerSearch.com, and CalorieCount.com.  The deal will be closed in the next few weeks.  The acquisition will be down almost entirely in cash.  IAC beat Answers.com in a bidding war as they had offered around $270 million in debt and equity.  The New York Times had acquired About.com for $410 million in 2005 so they are selling it off at a major loss.  After Google changed their search algorithm, About.com’s traffic had plummeted.  Check out the press release below:

Continue reading →

IAC Offers $300 Million For About.com

Just when I thought that Answers.com was going to acquire About.com, IAC has come out from left field and made an offer that is over $300 million.  This number is higher than the $270 million offer that The New York Times made for the website.

Continue reading →