The company was founded by
Henry Jarvis Raymond and
George Jones in New York City. The first edition of the newspaper
The New York Times, published on September 18, 1851, stated: "We publish today the first issue of the New-York Daily Times, and we intend to issue it every morning (Sundays excepted) for an indefinite number of years to come." The company moved into the cable channel industry, purchasing a 40% interest in the Popcorn Channel, a theatrical movie preview and local movie times, in November 1994. In 1996, it expanded upon its broadcasting by purchasing Palmer Communications, owners of
WHO-DT in
Des Moines and
KFOR in
Oklahoma City. In April 2002, The New York Times Company and
Discovery Communications announced a joint venture television network called Discovery Times, although this was just a rename of the Discovery Civilization Network. The company completed its purchase of
The Washington Post 50 percent interest in the
International Herald Tribune (
IHT) for US$65 million on January 1, 2003, becoming the sole owner. On March 18, 2005, the company acquired
About.com, an online provider of consumer information, for US$410 million. In 2005, the company reported revenues of US$3.4 billion to its
investors. The Times, on August 25, 2006, acquired Baseline StudioSystems, an online database and research service on the film and television industries for US$35 million. In 2006, The Times sold their stake in Discovery Times to Discovery. The channel was relaunched as
Investigation Discovery two years later. The company announced on September 12, 2006, its decision to sell its Broadcast Media Group, consisting of "nine network-affiliated television stations, their related Web sites and the digital operating center".
The New York Times reported on January 4, 2007, that the company had reached an agreement to sell all nine local television stations to the private equity firm
Oak Hill Capital Partners, which then created a holding company for the stations,
Local TV LLC. The company announced that it had finalized the sale of its Broadcast Media Group on May 7, 2007, for "approximately
$575 million". In 2007, the company moved from
229 West 43rd Street to
the New York Times Building at 620 Eighth Avenue, on the west side of
Times Square, between 40th and 41st streets across from the
Port Authority of New York & New Jersey Bus Terminal. In March 2009, the Times sold its ownership of the nineteen stories that it occupied in the New York Times Building to
W. P. Carey for $225 million. In exchange, the Times leased back its floors for $24 million per year for 10 years. At the end of the contract, The Times repurchased the building's leasehold from W. P. Carey in late 2019 for $245 million. On July 14, 2009, the company announced that
WQXR was to be sold to
WNYC, which moved the station to 105.9 FM and began to operate the station noncommercially on October 8, 2009. This US$45 million transaction, which involved
Univision Radio's
WCAA moving to the 96.3 FM frequency from 105.9 FM, ended the Times' 65-year-long ownership of the station. In December 2011, the company sold its Regional Media Group to
Halifax Media Group, owners of
The Daytona Beach News-Journal, for $143 million.
The Boston Globe and
The Telegram & Gazette of
Worcester were not part of the sale. In 2011, the Times sold Baseline StudioSystems back to its original owners, Laurie S. Silvers and Mitchell Rubenstein, majority shareholders of
Project Hollywood LLC. In September 2012, the company sold About.com to
IAC Inc. for $300 million. In 2013, the New York Times Company sold
The Boston Globe and other New England media properties to
John W. Henry, the principal owner of the
Boston Red Sox. According to the Times Company, the move was made in order to focus more on its core brands. After forming an editorial partnership with the New York Times in 2015,
The Wirecutter, a product review website, was acquired by the Times in October 2016 for a reported $30 million. In March 2020, the New York Times Company acquired subscription-based audio app, Audm. In July 2020, the New York Times Company acquired podcast production company
Serial Productions. The same month, the company appointed
chief operating officer Meredith Kopit Levien to the position of CEO. In January 2022, the Times acquired
Wordle, an Internet word puzzle game that grew from 90 players in October 2021 to millions at the time of purchase. The Times paid a price "in the low seven figures," according to its creator, Josh Wardle. In February 2022, the New York Times Company bought
The Athletic, a subscription-based sports news website, for $550 million. Its founders, Alex Mather and Adam Hansmann, stayed with the publication, which is run separately from the
Times.
ValueAct Capital took a stake in the company in August 2022. ValueAct aims to encourage the company to more actively pursue the sale of "bundled" subscriptions to its various offerings.
Radio stations The paper bought AM radio station
WQXR (1560kHz) in 1944. Its "sister" FM station, WQXQ, became WQXR-FM (96.3MHz). Branded as "The Stereo Stations of
The New York Times", its
classical music radio format was simulcast on both the AM & FM frequencies until December 1992, when the big-band and pop standards music format of station WNEW (1130kHz – now
WBBR/"Bloomberg Radio") was transferred to and adopted by WQXR; in recognition of the format change, WQXR changed its call letters to
WQEW (a "hybrid" combination of "
WQXR" and "WN
EW"). By 1999,
The New York Times was leasing WQEW to
ABC Radio for its "
Radio Disney" format. In 2007, WQEW was finally purchased by
Disney; in late 2014, it was sold to Family Radio (a religious radio network) and became
WFME. In 2009, WQXR-FM was sold to the
WNYC radio group and, on October 8, moved from 96.3 to 105.9MHz (swapping frequencies with Spanish-language station
WXNY-FM, which wanted the more powerful transmitter to increase its coverage) and began operating it as a noncommercial, public radio station. == Holdings ==