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Big tech is painting itself as journalism’s savior. We should tread carefully.
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Aug. 7, 2024, 10:05 a.m.
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The New York Times now has 10.2 million digital-only subscribers, and 4.8 million of them are paying for some kind of Times bundle — the news product plus at least one of The Athletic, cooking, games, or Wirecutter — the company said in its second quarter earnings report Wednesday.

A few other bits from the earnings report, which saw The New York Times’ profit up 13.6% compared to this time last year:

  • The Times added 300,000 digital subscribers in the quarter.
  • Digital revenues are up 12.9% over this time last year, to $304.5 million, “due to an increase in bundle and multiproduct revenues and an increase in other single-product subscription revenues, partially offset by a decrease in news-only subscription revenues.”
  • The Times has spent a little less than $3 million this year on its ongoing lawsuit against OpenAI.
  • The Athletic, the sports site the Times acquired for $550 million in 2022, is still losing money, but it’s losing less than it was this time last year.

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