In an interview with the Times, Levien 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 operating officer, 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 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 6 million subscribers in print and digital.
The @nytimes Company has announced that Meredith Kopit Levien (@meredith_levien) will succeed Mark Thompson as President and Chief Executive Officer. https://t.co/dXG09MShWh— NYTimes Communications (@NYTimesPR) July 22, 2020
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 Aug. 5, said it forecast that ad revenue would be down as much as 55 percent in the quarter.
Although not directly responsible for any editorial copy, 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.
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.
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