New York Times CEO declines to say whether union for The Athletic would be recognized
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New York Times CEO Meredith Kopit Levien and Axios' Sara Fischer. Photo: Kerry Flynn/Axios
New York Times CEO and president Meredith Kopit Levien declined to say whether the company would recognize The Athletic's union if staffers choose to form one, speaking to Axios at the 2024 Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity on Monday.
Why it matters: The Athletic editorial staffers are mulling an effort to unionize, Axios first reported last month, as the sports media brand becomes more integrated into the larger company.
Driving the news: "The Times works with lots of unions. ... We certainly recognize all of our colleagues' rights. If The Athletic team chooses to form a union to represent themselves they have a right to do that, but I don't have anything to report there," Levien told Axios in response to a question about recognizing the union, during a conversation at Women's Sports House, hosted by Axios and Deep Blue Sports + Entertainment.
Catch up quick: The Times acquired The Athletic in 2022 and recently has been making more operational changes.
- Last year, The Times shuttered its sports desk and moved its sports writers to other departments, in favor of leaning into The Athletic brand.
Meanwhile, Levien says The Athletic has committed to its 2023 goal of doubling its investment in women's sports coverage, bolstering its quantity of stories from 1,000 in 2022 to 2,000 stories last year.
- Levien says The Athletic's full-time women's sports reporters have grown from four to 10 and has relied on its 500-person newsroom to cover more women's sports during particular events like the women's NCAA tournament.
What's next: The Times previously told investors it anticipates the company will begin to break even by 2025. Levien says it's continued to meet its own expectations for The Athletic.
- "We're super happy with everything about The Athletic is doing. It's doing at least as well as we expected it to do economically," Levien says. "To be clear, we're not stopping at breakeven."
Editors note: This story has been corrected to say that Levien said she recognizes employee rights to form unions, not that the New York Times would necessarily recognize one formed by employees of The Athletic
