(Reuters) -The New York Times Co reported first-quarter revenue on Wednesday that missed analysts’ estimates, hurt by slowing digital subscriptions growth at a time when competing online news platforms are trying to lure subscribers.
The Times attracted millions of digital subscribers in the last two years as the pandemic, the U.S. presidential election and climate crisis dominated the news cycle.
But with people stepping out more and spending less time online, the news publisher’s digital subscriber growth has slowed and digital ad sales are dominated by tech behemoths Facebook and Google.
Still, The Times has been pouring money into acquisitions such as sports news website The Athletic and viral daily word game “Wordle” and other podcasts and newsletters.
The company’s total revenue rose 13.6% to $537.4 million in the first quarter, compared with estimates of $546 million, according to Refinitiv data.
“Wordle brought an unprecedented tens of millions of new users to The Times, many of whom stayed to play other games which drove our best quarter ever for net subscriber additions to Games and we’re off to a great start on our work with The Athletic,” Chief Executive Officer Meredith Kopit Levien said in a statement.
Net income attributable to The Times’ common stockholders fell to $4.73 million, or 3 cents per share, in the first quarter, from $41.12 million, or 24 cents per share, a year earlier.
(Reporting by Eva Mathews in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich, Shounak Dasgupta and Shinjini Ganguli)
