(Feb 7): New York Times Co reported fourth-quarter results that beat analysts’ expectations, driven by the strength of the publisher’s bundled digital services.

Earnings came to 70 cents a share, excluding some items, the company said on Wednesday, surpassing the 59-cent average of Wall Street estimates. Revenue came in at US$676.2 million (RM3.22 billion), in line with expectations of US$678.5 million.

The Times has had success in attracting and retaining subscribers by bundling access to its flagship newspaper with the sports information site The Athletic, along with cooking and game apps.

The publisher added roughly 300,000 digital subscribers in the fourth quarter, compared with roughly 210,000 in the third quarter. The Times now has a total of about 10.36 million subscribers. It has set a goal of reaching 15 million by 2027.

Total subscription revenue grew 3.9% in the final three months of the year — in line with the 2% to 5% the company projected three months ago.

The Times has been a bright spot during a particularly difficult stretch for the news industry, which has suffered widespread job losses. The stock rose 51% last year.

Publishers including the Times have recently held talks with the developers of artificial intelligence services to license their content. In December, the Times sued Microsoft Corp and OpenAI Inc, alleging its copyrighted articles were improperly used to train artificial intelligence features. Microsoft declined to comment at the time, while OpenAI said in a statement it was “surprised and disappointed”.

The Athletic, which the Times bought in 2022, posted an adjusted operating loss of US$4.4 million.