New York Times CEO Meredith Kopit Levien on Trump and an industry in crisis

Alicia Adamczyk

Nina Ajemian

Good morning! NBCU offers to buy MLB rights, Laurene Powell Jobs lays off Emerson Collective employees, and Fortune’s Ruth Umoh profiles the New York Times Company&#8217;s Meredith Kopit Levien. &#8211; Fit to print. At 49, Meredith Kopit Levien became the youngest person and second woman to lead The New York Times Company when she was named CEO in September 2020. She did so during an historically tumultuous time: in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matters protests, which caused a reckoning on race and power not just in the nation’s public consciousness but within the journalism industry as well. <div class="paywall-selector"></div><div class="paywall">



In the time since, Levien, <a href="https://fortune.com/ranking/most-powerful-women/2025/meredith-kopit-levien/">No. 50</a> on Fortune’s 2025 Most Powerful Women list, has worked to transform the Times from the storied “Gray Lady” known for its rigorous journalism into a lifestyle subscription platform that has something for every kind of reader, Fortune’s Ruth Umoh writes in a profile of the media bigwig.&nbsp;



“I didn’t really understand, as COO, how profoundly different the CEO role would be,” Levien, who previously held roles as chief revenue officer and COO of the NYT Company, told Umoh. “It took me at least a year—maybe two—just to have any confidence that I could do the job. And that I could maybe even do it well.”



On the subscription side, Levien is certainly doing the job well. The New York Times has some 11 million paid digital subscribers, up from under one million in 2015, Umoh reports. But critics say some of that growth has come at the expense of the top-tier journalism the Times stakes its reputation on. And in a time of profound distrust of the media, it becomes trickier to balance traditional journalistic sentiment with the needs of the business that make producing the journalism possible.



Still, it’s hard to argue against her successful turnaround of a company that many people warned her to stay away from, Umoh writes.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“I never wanted the top job,” she says. “I just wanted to do the biggest version of the work I loved.”



You can read the <a href="https://fortune.com/2025/05/20/new-york-times-ceo-meredith-kopit-levien/">rest of the feature here</a>. MPW Daily will return Tuesday after the Memorial Day holiday.



Alicia Adamczyk <a href="mailto:alicia.adamczyk@fortune.com">alicia.adamczyk@fortune.com</a>



The Most Powerful Women Daily newsletter is Fortune’s daily briefing for and about the women leading the business world. Today’s edition was curated by Nina Ajemian. Subscribe <a href="https://fortune.com/newsletters/mpw-daily?">here</a>.<h3>ALSO IN THE HEADLINES</h3>- Baseball bid. NBCUniversal, with chairman Donna Langley, has made a bid for the rights to MLB, following ESPN’s decision in February to opt out of the last three years of its contract with the league. NBCU, which has the rights to the NFL and will begin airing NBA games later this year, is reportedly offering much less than ESPN for the MLB. <a href="https://www.wsj.com/business/media/nbcuniversal-bids-for-mlb-rights-espn-dropped-a98e16c5?mod=business_feat7_media_pos2">Wall Street Journal</a>
- Major layoffs. Emerson Collective, multi-billionaire Laurene Powell Jobs’ LLC, is cutting 10% of staff in one of its first major rounds of layoffs since its founding. While some of the laid-off employees said the cuts were also politically motivated, the organization said the “strategic realignment” was only due to financial factors. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/21/technology/laurene-powell-jobs-emerson-collective-layoffs.html">New York Times</a>
- Steely determination. On a recent call, President of Mexico Claudia Sheinbaum and President Donald Trump talked about steel and aluminum tariffs, as Sheinbaum has been pushing for the U.S. to cut its 25% metal levy. <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-05-22/sheinbaum-says-she-talked-steel-tariffs-in-latest-trump-call">Bloomberg</a>
- Off-target. Target has seen an almost 3% drop in total sales and 3.8% drop in comparable sales, caused in part by the retailer’s rollback of DEI policies—and resulting boycott from customers. Plus, Target shared that two women in its C-suite will be leaving: Christina Hennington, chief strategy and growth officer, and Amy Tu, chief legal officer. <a href="https://fortune.com/article/target-earnings-drop-tariffs-dei-headwinds-c-suite-shakeup/">Fortune</a>
<h3>MOVERS AND SHAKERS</h3>Tinder CEO Faye Iosotaluno is <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-05-22/tinder-ceo-to-depart-parent-ceo-to-lead-troubled-dating-brand">stepping down</a> in July after almost eight years at the company.
Envision Healthcare named Carmen Pla chief revenue officer. Most recently, she was the company’s SVP of revenue cycle operations.
Real estate and investment company JLL appointed Catherine Clay to its board of directors. Clay is EVP, global head of derivatives at Cboe Global Markets.
<h3>ON MY RADAR</h3>The art of the Alix Earle deal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/style/alix-earle-deal-alex-cooper-podcast-poppi-019f0cca?st=DrvrGz&amp;reflink=article_copyURL_share">Wall Street Journal</a>
Are young American men lonelier than women? New poll adds to debate <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/05/21/lonely-young-american-men-poll/">Washington Post</a>
Are female experts more credible? <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/eda35285-a9ca-4b16-8b79-d1947bc8f19a">Financial Times</a>
<h3>PARTING WORDS</h3>“We are here and we can prove to you that we will make money for you.”
— Actor Nicole Kidman on <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/nicole-kidman-cannes-kering-awards-insider">the need for better roles for women in Hollywood</a></div>

“I never wanted the top job,” says Levien. “I just wanted to do the biggest version of the work I loved.”

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