Odd Lots · Monday, August 10, 2026
Meredith Kopit Levien refuted the notion that high-quality news journalism at The New York Times functions as a loss leader, stating that the company's success is fundamentally driven by its news content. She clarified that while lifestyle products like games and sports content contribute to the business, the first dollar earned still goes towards the core mission of independent news.
“And I think there's an idea in the world, and this idea has been around for a long time, that sort of hardcore independent news journalism, particularly about serious topics. As a loss leader, you do it because you have to do it, You do it for the mission. But in fact, an organization likes like The New York Times makes its money from games or sports. I want to put that to bed. It's just like not true at all.”
“At the company? Themically value creating thing we do kind of writ large is high quality independent news journalism.”