The New York Times didn’t get as much of a “Trump bump” as investors wanted

Last time around, newspapers got a big boost from nonstop Trump coverage.

2/7/25 9:44AM

On Wednesday, The New York Times Company reported that it had gained another 350,000 digital-only subscribers in the last quarter. That pushed the NYT’s total subscriber count to more than 11.4 million, maintaining its crown as the world’s largest news company to have successfully pivoted away from its print media roots. Indeed, just 21% of the company’s revenue came from print subscriptions last year, half the proportion from just a decade ago, as the newspaper’s push into games, cooking, and product recommendations has broadened its appeal. As one Sherwood writer summarized last year: “The New York Times is a games company with a newspaper side hustle.” The company also hiked its dividend by 38%.

(Hard) Times

On the surface, that sounds... good? Except that investors in The New York Times have become accustomed to quarter after quarter of strong digital growth and the company’s guidance for the coming year left traders unimpressed, with NYT shares falling a whopping 12% in Wednesday trading as investors digested the disappointing forecasts.

Of particular note was that the Q4 “Trump bump” didn’t materialize as much as NYT execs might have hoped.

In 2016, following Donald Trump’s remarkable ascension to the White House, the news media industry enjoyed bumper traffic and heightened interest in politics as President Trump enacted his MAGA agenda. Many expected that phenomenon to happen again. And, in terms of pure traffic, it briefly did: data from Similarweb reveals a sharp spikes in daily visitors to some of the nation’s most popular news sites around the election.

So far, however, the election has yet to translate into a sustained news media boom. Editors and execs have only enjoyed a truncated “Trump bump,” as it were.

In defense of The New York Times, the company itself ran an article on the subject in the wake of the election, pouring some cold water on the expectation that Trump 2024 would be like Trump 2016: “News fatigue and changing consumption habits could sap some of that enthusiasm over time, several news media experts said.”

Nia Warfield

Fox and News Corp slide as investors digest $3.3 billion Murdoch succession settlement

Fox and News Corp shares dropped on Tuesday after Rupert Murdoch’s heirs agreed to a $3.3 billion settlement to resolve a long-running succession drama.

Under the deal, Prudence, Elisabeth, and James Murdoch will each receive about $1.1 billion, paid for in part by Fox selling 16.9 million Class B voting shares and News Corp selling 14.2 million shares. The stock sales will raise roughly $1.37 billion on behalf of the three heirs.

The new trust for Lachlan Murdoch will now control about 36.2% of Fox’s Class B shares and roughly 33.1% of News Corp’s stock, granting him uncontested voting authority over both companies for the next 25 years. Originally, the Murdoch trust was designed to hand over voting control of Fox and News Corp to Prudence, Elisabeth, Lachlan, and James after his death.

Investors are weighing the trade-off. Clear leadership under Lachlan may resolve conflict internally, but the share dilution, executed at a roughly 4.5% discount, means long-term investors now hold slightly less clout than before.

Both companies’ stocks were trading close to all-time highs prior to the announcement.

385 ✈️ 434

Max Knoblauch

Boeing on Tuesday announced that it delivered 57 commercial jets in August, its best total for the month in seven years. That brings its year-to-date delivery total to 385 planes, eclipsing its full-year 2024 figure by about 11%.

The August figure marked Boeing’s second-highest delivery total of 2025 and represented a 43% jump from the same month last year. Through August, Boeing has boosted its deliveries by 50% from last year.

The plane maker is still trailing its European rival Airbus, which delivered 61 planes in August and 434 year to date.

Nia Warfield

9/8/25

Tariffs finally crept into retail's latest earnings results. Who were the winners and losers?

The long-awaited levies took a toll on nearly every retailer, but execution separated who could steer through the costs.