New York Times sees smaller loss

Struggling with debt, the company sold its flagship building in March

The New York Times Company, the struggling US newspaper group, has reported a smaller-than-expected loss of $35.6m in the third quarter.

The results sent shares in the company up 23% to a one-year high.

Advertising revenue fell almost 30% across all of its newspapers from a year earlier.

The company also announced a non-profit news organisation to provide content for a new Chicago edition of the New York Times.

The Chicago News Co-operative - comprised of former editors from the bankrupt company that owns the Chicago Tribune - will provide the copy for two pages, twice a week, in the first Chicago edition to launch on 20 November.

It is the latest attempt by the newspaper industry to cope with a financial crisis that has left many of its biggest publishers bankrupt.

Journalism woes

At least 12,500 jobs have gone in US print journalism in two years.

The New York Times is struggling to service debts of some $400m, amid dwindling cash reserves and plunging revenue.

It sold its Renzo Piano-designed skyscraper, opened in 2007, earlier this year to bolster its cash flow.

The Tribune Company, which owns the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, the Baltimore Sun and many other titles, filed for bankruptcy in December.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer closed in March. The Rocky Mountain News in Colorado, founded in 1859, also closed .

Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, the world's second-richest man by Forbes Magazine, bought a 6.4% stake in the New York Times last year.