#New York Times promotes Meredith Kopit Levien to CEO

The New York Times appointed insider Meredith Kopit Levien to replace Mark Thompson as CEO and president following a year-long search.

In an interview with the Times, Levien she said it was “the thrill of a lifetime” to move to the CEO spot, where she reports to publisher A.G. Sulzberger. Currently the company’s chief operation office, Levien, 49, will be the youngest person to hold the position when she steps into the role in September.

Thompson, hired from the BBC by The Times publisher Arthur “Pinch” Sulzberger, is credited with accelerating the company’s push into digital subscription business at a time when print advertising was getting hammered. He announced his plans to step down last year.

Levien said she would continue to expand the company’s “subscription first journalism.” The Times is pushing to reach 10 million paying subscribers by the end of 2025 and currently is more than halfway there with about six million subscribers in print and digital.

Levien will also be taking over a media empire ravaged by the coronavirus, which has crushed advertising sales. The company, which reports its second quarter financial results on Aug. 5, said that it forecast ad revenue would be down as much as 55 percent in the quarter.

Although not directly responsible for any editorial, she comes to the Gray Lady at a time when its newsroom is mired in controversy. Editorial page editor James Bennet was forced to resign after the paper published an op-ed column online from Sen. Tom Cotton, endorsing the introduction of federal troops to quell protests sparked by the death of George Floyd in late May.

And last week editorial writer Bari Weiss wrote a blistering 1,500-word resignation letter directed at publisher A.G. Sulzberger that claimed top editors are letting Twitter and its young “woke” staffers dictate its content.

Levien is the second woman to hold the job. The first was Janet Robinson, who was forced out in December 2011 after she clashed with Arthur Sulzberger, the father of current publisher A.G. Sulzberger, as the company was wrestling with how to push its digital agenda and offset print ad declines following the Great Recession.

She joined the paper from Forbes Media in 2013 as the head of advertising and was promoted to chief revenue office and then chief operating officer in 2017. Thompson was involved in the search for a successor and praised Levien’s selection.