Today we’re breaking down The New York Times. We cover the scale and history of The New York Times, how it has navigated the shift from physical to digital distribution, and what its non-digital advertising business looks like today.

Our guest is Morning Brew co-founder and host of Founder’s Journal and Imposters podcasts, Alex Lieberman. It’s particularly interesting to hear a new media operator dissect the heritage and evolution of one of the most storied brands in his industry.

Show Notes
[00:00:00] – Introduction
[00:02:55] – [First question] – What The New York Times is as a business
[00:04:35] – Snapshot of the scale of The New York Times and it’s readership
[00:08:06] – The origin story of The New York Times and becoming a national news source
[00:11:40] – How the business is distinctive being family-run for five generations
[00:15:00] – Unpacking the shift from physical to digital and how it impacted their numbers
[00:20:00] – Course correcting after the first few years of their digital strategy not succeeding as anticipated
[00:23:43] – The cost of sales and the margins of the business and growth levers
[00:27:47] – Revenue differences between advertising and subscriptions
[00:29:37] – What does their non-digital advertising business look like
[00:31:43] – The biggest levers for growing the topline and bottomline of the business
[00:35:18] – Acquiring Wirecutter & historical M&A performance
[00:37:57] – Other categories and businesses that help build a bigger audience
[00:42:00] – Differences between the Netflix and New York Times subscription models
[00:44:37] – Leaning into world events and politics
[00:48:22] – Macro factors and specific things that would lead to reaching their subscriber goal in the future
[00:51:10] – Mistakes and threats that could negatively impact their goals
[00:55:43] – Biggest lessons for builders, entrepreneurs, executives and investors
[00:58:30] – Learn more about the New York Times; Peter Kafka, Rich Greenfield, Lightshed Partners