The NY Times‘ Web site, which recently merged with the International Herald Tribune‘s Web site to provide readers with a “global edition,” has been purchased by Mountainview, CA-based Google. The search company has also announced its initial plans for the new Web site, including plans to use user-generated content to cover news outside of NYC. Staff from the online edition will oversee their efforts, dinstuinguishing the paper from competitor The Huffington Post which is adding investigative reporters to its staff to cover news nationally.
The print edition of the paper will be spun off as a separate entity which will be purchased by a group of NYC-based venture capital firms led by Union Square Ventures. Apax Partners, DFJ Gotham, and FirstMark Capital will also be part owners of the print edition.
“We’ve been reevaluating the advantages of print in the current economic climate,” said one source. “If Murdoch and Zuckerman see newspapers as sound investments, we collectively thought we should shift our focus away from purely digital plays.”
In an interview, outgoing New York Times Company Chairman Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. indicated that he might now campaign against incumbent Mayor Michael Bloomberg, saying, “It’s obvious that the people of New York City are looking for change and n