NY Times promotes executive Meredith Kopit Levien to CEO

The New York Times Co. has promoted its chief operating officer, Meredith Kopit Levien, to CEO

The New York Times Co. said Wednesday that it is promoting its chief operating officer, Meredith Kopit Levien, to CEO.

She will start in the new role on Sept. 8, succeeding Mark Thompson, who has been president and CEO since 2012. Thompson will also step down from the company’s board, which Kopit Levien is joining.

“I’ve chosen this moment to step down because we have achieved everything I set out to do when I joined The Times Company eight years ago,” Thompson said in a statement.

Kopit Levien said she wants to invest in product and technology that grows the company’s business as well as in journalism.

She came to the Times in August 2013 as head of advertising from Forbes, and was responsible for the newspaper’s subscription and ad businesses before becoming COO in 2017.

The Times has successfully transformed its business into one increasingly dependent on online subscriptions and less so on ad revenues. It first introduced digital subscriptions in 2011.

Kopit Levien “has successfully led much of our company’s most important work — from reimagining our advertising business to driving our historic subscription growth to fostering a culture of product innovation,” said publisher A.G. Sulzberger. “She’s been Mark Thompson’s closest partner over the past seven years and will continue to build on his remarkable legacy.”