NEW YORK, NY (October 7, 2008) – The New York Times Co. will be closing the Web site of its sister paper, the International Herald Tribune, and moving IHT.com's content onto the Time's site in order to increase Web traffic on the Time's site and to give the company more content against which it can sell advertising.
The staffs learned the news Tuesday in an internal eMail, Forbes reported. NYTimes.com general manager Vivian Schiller told Forbes the move was not about cost savings, but about growth.
Schiller said the move will also let the Times "better capitalize" on the Web traffic coming from foreigners by selling more advertisements aimed at them.
The internal memo said the closing required "hard decision about jobs at the IHT," and that the company is looking to "reassign or relocate" employees in Paris, where the IHT is published.
The ongoing decrease in advertising revenue is forcing all newspapers, even those as big as the Times, to create new ways to save money. The IHT Web site closing was revealed on the same day the Times moved the Sports section into the back of the Business section and moved its Metro coverage into the inside of the front News section.
The New York Times Media Group reported their August 2008 advertising revenue was down 15 percent from the same period last year and that Internet advertising was down almost 8 percent.
