New York Times beats estimates on strong digital revenue growth

Feb 8 (Reuters) - The New York Times Co reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit and revenue on Thursday, as the newspaper publisher signed up more digital subscribers, which more than offset a decline in print sales.

Digital advertising revenue rose 8.5 percent in the fourth quarter, while print advertising revenue fell 8.4 percent, showing the shift of people moving online for their daily dose of news.

The New York Times has been attracting more paid subscribers for its online content through discounts as well as giving certain subscription packages access to its sought-after daily crossword puzzles and cooking recipes.

The company's digital revenue accounted for about 46 percent of total advertising revenue in the latest quarter, up from about 42 percent of total advertising revenue a year ago.

The New York Times said it added 157,000 digital subscribers in the quarter, taking its total digital subscribers count to more than 2.5 million.

The so-called "Trump bump" — the effect of President Donald Trump's attacks on the New York Times newspaper — has also helped drive subscriptions.

The company's total revenue rose 10 percent to $484.1 million.

However, it posted a net loss of $57.8 million, compared with a year-ago profit of $37.6 million, mostly due to higher costs and pension settlements.

Excluding one-time items, the company earned 39 cents per share.

Analysts' on an average estimated a profit of 29 cents per share on a revenue of $467.3 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

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(Reporting by Laharee Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)