Dive Brief:
- The New York Times Company announced Monday that CFO Roland Caputo will retire in the new year, according to a press release.
- The current finance chief and executive vice president will continue to perform his CFO duties until a successor is identified. No exact date was given for his official retirement and the company has retained an executive search firm to fill Caputo’s shoes, the release said.
- Caputo’s retirement announcement happens against the backdrop of more than 1,000 journalists and other employees of the company walking off the job for 24 hours on Dec. 8 in one of the largest labor disputes for the newspaper in more than 40 years, publications including the The Washington Post, CNN and the Associated Press reported.
Dive Insight:
During the strike, reporters, editors, photographers and other employees picketed outside of the office in Manhattan’s Times Square. As a result, the company had to rely on international and non-union staffers to deliver content to its 9 million subscribers internationally, according to the Associated Press.
The company announced on Nov. 2 an increase in profit of $51 million in the third quarter from $49 million in the same period of 2021, citing higher digital subscription revenues.
Despite macroeconomic headwinds throughout the fiscal year, CEO Meredith Kopit Levien said that their “third-quarter results, including the 180,000 net digital-only subscriber additions, support our confidence in our strategy, and reinforce our conviction in the long-term opportunity for The New York Times Company,” according to the earnings release.
However, Levien also said in a company-wide email that profits are still not what they were a decade ago, the New York Times reported.
Caputo’s retirement announcement also happens against the backdrop of several indicators that CFO turnover is on the rise, with retirement rates having increased for the first time in three years, according to an October Russell Reynolds report.
CFO turnover is likely to rise with market volatility, leading to increased scrutiny of those in the hot seat and an aging population of those in the role, despite turnover at S&P 500 companies ticking down to 14% for the first three quarters of 2022 — a decline from the 16% reported during that same time last year, according to the report.
The New York Times joins a list of companies who have gone through — or who have announced they are planning to go through — some form of CFO turnover in recent weeks. American Airlines, Jack in the Box, IHG (owner of hotel chain Holiday Inn), Newell Brands, packaged food company Del Monte and Krispy Kreme, among others, have swiped CFOs from other organizations or promoted one of their own executives to take on the role.
Caputo — who started at the New York-based digital news subscription business as a financial analyst in 1986 — has served in a variety of operational, financial and strategic roles during his 36-year tenure at the organization. In particular, he was instrumental in making the New York Times a national newspaper and in 2008 he helped shepherd the core print business from a deep recession, the release said.
