You don’t have to be a journalist to know that the newspaper industry these days is a shell of its former self. Over the last two decades, more than 3,000 papers have closed across the United States, per statistics from Northwestern University.
Against that backdrop, The New York Times has been something of an outlier, growing its newsroom staff, picking up subscribers and finding new revenue streams as many other outlets stumble. The media company's strong tailwinds surprised even its finance chief.
“Even five years ago, I never would have expected that the size of the opportunity we see in front of us just keeps getting bigger,” said William Bardeen, executive VP and CFO of The New York Times Co., at the Citi Global TMT Conference on Wednesday.
Speaking with Citi Managing Director Jason Bazinet in New York, Bardeen explained how the paper achieved the niche it has today, and what might come next. Here are four takeaways from the conversation.
1. The New York Times newsroom staff has tripled over the last decade.
Job cuts have become the norm across media organizations around the world. London-based media trade publication Press Gazette tallied 3,434 job cuts in journalism in the United States and the United Kingdom in 2025.
By contrast, Bardeen maintains that the Times has differentiated itself by “continuous investment into original, independent, boots-on-the-ground journalism.” He noted that about 10 years ago, the company employed 1,000 people in its newsrooms; today, that figure is about 3,000. Last year, the company’s reporters were filing stories from 150 countries, Bardeen said.
In a world “awash” in digital content, Bardeen said, “a relentless focus on differentiation is critical.”
2. Video, again, looks to be a lucrative opportunity.
Print-based media publications have had mixed success with video content over the years. The infamous “pivot to video” embraced by many outlets in the 2010s is often associated with staff cuts, for instance. All the same, Bardeen says there’s still ample opportunity in video for the Times. Speaking about opportunities for the company today, he specifically highlighted video content.
“We absolutely believe we’re on the path to being the preferred brand for watching, not just reading and listening,” he said.
Bardeen added that the Times is making such forays “from a position of real financial strength.”
3. Infiltrating readers’ habits has been a priority, and it appears to be effective.
Bardeen said the Times has kept audiences engaged over the years by integrating its products into users’ daily habits. Alongside traditional news reporting, the company has developed games and robust cooking and sports sections. The Times dissolved its own sports section in 2023 and has been relying on its acquisition of sports publication The Athletic for additional revenue. “We can focus … on surrounding curious audiences with a bunch of essential habits,” Bardeen said.
Such efforts appear to have borne fruit. In 2025’s fourth quarter, the Times saw its number of subscribers tick up to 12.78 million, up from 11.4 million in the same period of the prior year. The company’s revenue also grew to $802.3 million, up 10.4% year over year.
4. The Times continues to reap revenue from print, for now.
Bardeen said he’s often asked whether the company’s print edition will go away. The answer is not quite yet. He noted that the Times still has hundreds of thousands of print subscribers who value print and “pay a lot of money for it.”
The company’s print product still has high incremental margins, he said, though he conceded that print remains “in secular decline.”
“This is a business that we’ll be in as long as we continue to get real economic value from it,” Bardeen said. “We don’t see that ending anytime soon.”
