'Jewel' Soon Was Tarnished for NY Times Co.: Globe

The Boston Globe is delving into the stunning fall of a once-great institution: itself. Keith O'Brien and Robert Weisman trace the decline back to 1993—when the New York Times Co. bought the "jewel of an asset" for a staggering $1.1 billion—to the unimaginable present, as the Times Co. threatens to shutter New England's premier daily.

“It was a brilliant move,” said one insider of what was dubbed a "royal marriage." But now the honeymoon is over: The Globe is hemorrhaging cash, and many blame Times Co. for failing to outmaneuver the Internet. But “nobody had any answers then, and nobody has any answers now,” says a former Globe editor. Which leaves O'Brien and Weisman guessing their fate in their own paper: "Spokespeople for Globe and Times management declined to comment." (More Boston Globe stories.)