Canoe

Monday, January 8, 2001

Times to cut Net staff

NEW YORK (AP) -- The New York Times Co. announced Sunday it was cutting the staff at its Internet division by 17 percent in hopes of meeting its financial goals by the end of 2002.

The move follows similar cuts announced by newspaper giant Knight Ridder last month and News Corp.'s announcement last week that it was shutting down its online division.

New York Times Digital, which operates Internet sites including NYTimes.com, Boston.com and newyorktoday.com, will eliminated 69 positions, the company said Sunday.

By cutting the Internet division's payroll, the company believes it can attain cash-flow profitability in two years.

"We continue to be confident about the future of NYTD and about the utility of the Internet as an additional medium through which we can profitably serve our customers -- both readers and advertisers," Russell T. Lewis, president and chief executive officer of The New York Times Co., said in a statement announcing the layoffs.

News Corp., the media empire controlled by Rupert Murdoch, announced last week that it would shut down its online division and eliminate more than 200 jobs in an effort to conserve badly needed cash. The company said it would transfer the production of three major Web sites back to the networks they are associated with -- Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox Sports Television Group, and Fox News Channel.

Knight Ridder Inc.'s Internet business slashed 16 percent of its work force last month, also in an effort to curtail losses. KnightRidder.com, a subsidiary created to cash in on the rise of e-commerce, said it is jettisoning 68 of its 420 workers in a reorganization that will create 34 new sales jobs.

The New York Times Co. had intended to issue a tracking stock for its Internet division, but plans for an initial public offering were scuttled in October when the company said a downturn in financial markets made the move undesirable.

The media company publishes The New York Times, The Boston Globe and 15 other newspapers, as well as four magazines, including Golf Digest. It also operates eight network-affiliated television stations and owns two New York City radio stations. The company had 1999 revenues of $3.1 billion.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), January 08, 2001