According to a filing with the SEC on Thursday, activist investor ValueAct has amassed a 6.7% stake in the New York Times, lifting the company’s shares by about 10% on the day.

According to a statement from a New York Times spokesperson, “We are aware that ValueAct has made an investment in the Company.” Members of our management team have spoken with ValueAct, as we do with other shareholders, to learn about their perspectives and to share our own.

According to Bloomberg, which broke the news of the stake, ValueAct bought more than 11 million shares and is reportedly pushing the news organisation to expand into subscriber-only bundles.

CNBC’s request for comment was not immediately answered by ValueAct.

As Reported By The New York Times Last Week

As Reported By The New York Times Last Week
Image Source: The New York Times

According to the New York Times’ earnings release from last week, the company added about 180,000 digital-only subscribers and 230,000 digital-only subscriptions during the second quarter of 2022, reflecting customers who have multiple subscriptions to the company’s services. With the additions, the organization’s total subscriber count now stands at 9.17 million, with 10.56 million total print and digital subscriptions, including 1 million subscribers to The Athletic, which the company recently acquired.

The second quarter of this year saw an increase in digital subscription revenue to $238.7 million from 2021. Digital access to the company’s news, popular cooking service, and games are all included with these subscriptions.

The New York Times stock reached its highest price since mid-May on Thursday afternoon, trading at about $35 per share. The stock has lost about 25% of its value so far this year, and the market value of the business is currently around $5.85 billion.