New York Times CEO Thinks Print Journalism Only Has Another 10 Years of Life Left

New York Times CEO Mark Thompson stated that print journalism only has another 10 years of life left, during an interview with CNBC on Monday.

“I believe at least 10 years is what we can see in the U.S. for our print products,” claimed Thompson during CNBC’s Power Lunch, adding he wants print media to “survive and thrive as long as it can.”

“We’ll decide that simply on the economics,” he continued. “There may come a point when the economics of [the print paper] no longer make sense for us.”

Thompson then proclaimed that, “The key thing for us is that we’re pivoting.”

“Our plan is to go on serving our loyal print subscribers as long as we can,” the New York Times CEO concluded. “But meanwhile to build up the digital business, so that we have a successful growing company and a successful news operation long after print is gone.”

During the interview, Thompson also revealed, “Without question we make more money on a print subscriber,” but noted, “Digital is growing very rapidly,” and, “Ultimately, there will be many times the number of digital subscribers compared to print.”

Last year, the New York Times let go of over 100 employees as part of their ever-increasing shift to digital news, many of which reportedly took “voluntary” buyout packages.

In February 2017, Fortune also reported that the New York Times had been experiencing “double-digit declines every quarter for more than a year now.”