Final-NYT-2020-Annual-Report.Pdf
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The New York Times Company 2020 Annual Report Life Needs Truth. To Our Shareholders, 2020 was perhaps the busiest news year in the 170-year history of The New York Times. From the pandemic and its devastating human and economic toll to the national reckoning over race and social justice to the bitterly contested U.S. presidential election, the past year made clear what we at The Times have long known: The need for quality, independent journalism is as acute as ever. The Times rose to meet that need. And we did so with energy and rigor commensurate with our mission. Our strong business results reflect the hunger for Times journalism. 2020 was our best-ever year for subscriptions, with 2.3 million net new digital-only subscriptions added. We ended the year with 7.5 million total subscriptions across our digital and print products — including, for the first time, more than 5 million digital subscriptions for our core News product. Thanks to the record-setting growth in our digital subscription business, and despite the loss of $138 million in advertising revenue last year, we recorded a slight increase in annual operating profit. That profit growth was largely driven by a 30 percent increase in digital subscription revenue. Our subscription products — News, Cooking and Games (formerly Crossword) — broke all previous records for annual net additions. We know 2020 was likely an outlier year for net subscription growth. Indeed, the news cycle will change and audiences will fluctuate, which could mean considerable variability in net subscription additions in any given quarter; however, we believe we remain well positioned to deliver continuous growth. We’re more than a year into our registration-based customer journey, and we’re encouraged to see that while many readers subscribe in moments of high news need, plenty of others do so over time as they experience the breadth and value of Times journalism. We achieved two key milestones in 2020: digital revenue overtook print, and digital subscription revenue, which has long been our fastest-growing revenue stream, became our largest. Together, those accomplishments, plus our best year on record for subscriptions, mark the end of the first decade of our strategic transformation to a digital-first, subscription-first company. They also mark the beginning of our next decade. The Times sold its first digital subscription 10 years ago. Since then, we’ve been focused on proving out our strategy of journalism worth paying for through direct-to-consumer digital subscriptions. This new decade will be about scaling that idea. To do that, we’re investing in the large long-term opportunity at a moment when habits are up for grabs, even if the variability in subscription additions impacts our profitability in the near term. In News, success will continue to rely first and most on the quality, breadth and differentiated value of our news report. So, in the coming year, we’ll continue to invest in our 1,700-strong newsroom to ensure we play a leading role in covering the biggest stories of our time. 2020 ANNUAL REPORT We believe we are just at the beginning of unlocking all that digital news can be and do in people’s lives. And to tap that growth potential, we will also continue adding digital product talent, whose work will make our journalism more accessible, engaging and impactful. While our product progress is increasingly evident to consumers — who see an improved experience for up-to-the- minute coverage, expanded use of visual and data journalism and new story formats — we still have plenty of work to do to ensure that our underlying technology architecture, strategy and culture match our growing ambitions. We see even bigger market opportunities for Games and Cooking, and we expect to invest more in content, product development and marketing in these products than we have in previous years. We’re also thinking hard about expanding our subscription product portfolio. This year, we’ll test a subscription product for Wirecutter, and experiment more aggressively with Audm, the read-aloud audio subscription service we acquired in mid-2020. We see all of those products as a way for The Times to mean even more in people’s lives, and also to make a relationship with The New York Times brand more valuable. External factors will continue to influence our subscription growth. But with every passing quarter, we believe there is also more in our control — from an improving understanding of consumers, to pricing power, to more disciplined management of costs in our legacy business — and we will continue to invest in our long-term growth. Key to scaling our business will be improving our culture as a company. One of The Times’s defining qualities has been our willingness to look hard at ourselves and identify ways to do better. In a year in which issues around diversity, equity and inclusion have been powerfully brought to the fore, we’re instituting changes at The Times that will make it a better place to work for all, and will lead to making our business and company stronger. Since this is our first letter to you in our new roles, we want to close with a personal note of thanks. The need for quality, independent journalism is only growing, and with your support and loyalty, we will continue to meet that need, and mean more to millions more people. Thank you for helping make our work and our mission possible. A.G. Sulzberger Meredith Kopit Levien Chairman President and C.E.O. March 19, 2021 2020 ANNUAL REPORT UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549 FORM 10-K ☑ Annual Report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 For the fiscal year ended December 27, 2020 ☐ Transition Report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 For the transition period from ___ to ___ Commission file number 1-5837 THE NEW YORK TIMES COMPANY (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter) New York 13-1102020 (State or other jurisdiction of (I.R.S. Employer incorporation or organization) Identification No.) 620 Eighth Avenue, New York, New York 10018 (Address and zip code of principal executive offices) Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (212) 556-1234 Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act: Title of each class Trading Symbol(s) Name of each exchange on which registered Class A Common Stock of $.10 par value NYT New York Stock Exchange Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: Not Applicable Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☑ No ☐ Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act. Yes ☐ No ☑ Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☑ No ☐ Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☑ No ☐ Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one): Large Accelerated Filer ☑ Accelerated filer ☐ Non-accelerated filer ☐ Smaller reporting company ☐ Emerging growth company ☐ If an emerging growth company, indicate by the check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐ Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☑ Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ☑ The aggregate worldwide market value of Class A Common Stock held by non-affiliates, based on the closing price on June 26, 2020, the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second quarter, as reported on the New York Stock Exchange, was approximately $6.8 billion. As of such date, non-affiliates held 55,849 shares of Class B Common Stock. There is no active market for such stock. The number of outstanding shares of each class of the registrant’s common stock as of February 19, 2021 (exclusive of treasury shares), was as follows: 166,656,827 shares of Class A Common Stock and 781,724 shares of Class B Common Stock. Documents incorporated by reference Portions of the Proxy Statement relating to the registrant’s 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, to be held on April 28, 2021, are incorporated by reference into Part III of this report.