Times Co. Will Keep Boston Globe

The New York Times Company has decided that it will not, after all, sell The Boston Globe, a development that comes several months after Times Co. had initially threatened to close the newspaper for financial reasons. The decision follows a period in which Times Co. was not able to attract any suitable bids.

Company chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. has stated that the Times Co. will also not have to sell the Globe because the newspaper’s financial situation has improved to the point where selling it to save money is no longer as imperative as it was before. Executives of the company had stated earlier this year that the newspaper would lose $85 million in 2009, undergoing a dramatic round of cost-cutting that sparked plenty of conflict between the company and its unionized employees.

Two bidders offered around $35 million and assumption of pension obligations for control of The Globe and The Worcester Telegram & Gazzette, while another potential buyer, a group led by a former Globe executive, submitted an updated offer just last week. Sources say that the Times Co. would have sold the Globe to the executive’s group but was unsure about how solid the group’s financing was.

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