US: NY Times freezes hiring, cuts jobs

Posted by Evan Fell on November 29, 2007 at 11:48 AM

In an effort to cut spending, the New York Times has frozen new hiring and cut a small amount of newsroom jobs.

About a dozen support positions, along with some secretary and clerical positions have been cut. The cut, however, will not affect any journalists or include any widespread buyouts.

The paper is also reportedly rethinking its coverage priorities and how it uses both its people and its space.

These moves come after a 30% drop in New York Times Co.’s shares in the past year, due mostly to a decline in ad sales across many of its titles.

The shares further dropped after Bank of America analyst Joe Arns cut his rating on the shares to "sell" from "neutral," explaining that it is possible that luxury advertising, which accounts for nearly a third of the Times's national ad revenue, could fall if the U.S. economy experienced a recession.

Source: Reuters

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