New York Times names Meredith Kopit Levien as new CEO

The New York Times announced Wednesday that Chief Operating Officer Meredith Kopit Levien will be the company’s new CEO, succeeding Mark Thompson.

Levien has been with the Times since 2013, serving in several roles like head of advertising and chief revenue officer. She previously served as publisher and chief revenue officer at Forbes.

Times publisher and board member A. G. Sulzberger called Levien “a brilliant and transformative leader.”

“Everything she has touched in the organization, she has made better,” he said in a statement Wednesday.

Levien will begin as chief executive on Sept. 8.

Thompson, 62, said he decided to step down as CEO after assuming the role in 2012.

“I’ve chosen this moment to step down because we have achieved everything I set out to do when I joined the Times Company eight years ago,” Thompson said.

The Times has shown considerable increases in digital advertising and subscriptions in recent years, particularly since President Trump took office in 2017.

The paper’s number of paid subscriptions surpassed 4.5 million, an all-time high for the company, in the first quarter of 2020. More than 3.5 million of those subscriptions were digital.

Overall, shares of the Times are up about 42 percent this year.