Outgoing director general of the public broadcaster had said he would step down after the London Olympics

Mark Thompson, outgoing director general of the BBC, has been named the new president and chief executive of the New York Times.

The 55-year-old replaces Janet Robinson, 62, who unexpectedly announced her retirement last December.

In a statement Arthur Sulzberger Jr, chairman of the Times Company and the newspaper's publisher, called Thompson as "a gifted and experienced executive with strong credentials whose leadership at the BBC helped it to extend its trusted brand identity into new digital products and services."

Thompson, who has been director general of the BBC since 2004 said in March that he intended to depart the public broadcaster after the London Olympics. The Guardian revealed in June that he was in talks to join the New York Times.

In a statement on Tuesday, Thompson said: "The New York Times is one of the world's greatest news providers and a media brand of immense future potential both in the US and around the world. It is a real privilege to be asked to join the Times Company as it embarks on the next chapter in its history."

Sulzberger added: "Our board concluded that Mark's experience and his accomplishments at the BBC made him the ideal candidate to lead the Times company at this moment in time when we are highly focused on growing our business through digital and global expansion."

Thompson has spent most of his career at the BBC. He joined in 1979 as a production trainee and began his career in news, working on the BBC's flagship news shows the Nine O'Clock News and Panorama. He became the BBC's director of television in 2000.

After a two-year stint as chief executive at the commercial broadcaster Channel 4, Thompson moved back to the BBC as director general in 2004. Thompson's unexpected return came after the BBC became involved in a disastrous tussle with the government over a poorly-framed story about the Iraq war, which led to the resignation of his predecessor.

He took over BBC at a time of deep crisis, and faced a difficult task getting the organisation back on an even keel. He concentrated hard on preserving its editorial integrity and its independence from government – a tough job for a body established by royal charter and whose level of funding, through a compulsory licence fee, is determined by ministers.

Thompson's leadership at the BBC has been not without controversy. Thompson once said the BBC had previously had a "massive leftwing bias", although he believed it no longer existed. He has also faced criticism over his pay package that once topped £800,000, though the sum looks small compared to the $24m payoff Robinson received when she left the job he is now taking.

Under Thompson's leadership the BBC has focused on digital and international expansion. He has also overseen a staff reduction plan, announcing plans to cut 2,000 jobs over five years and aiming to reduce costs by £700m a year.

While the Times is one of the biggest names in online news it has struggled, along with its competitors, as digital ads have failed to make up for profits lost from declining print sales.

Earlier this month the company announced it had made a net loss of $88.1m in the second quarter, as gains from paying subscribers and a small increase in revenues were wiped out by losses on About.com, a resource guide the company had bought to boost its online business.

The BBC announced in March that Thompson would step down after the Olympics, leaving enough time to find and appoint a successor make his own plans for life after the corporation.

Thompson held several discussions with New York Times executives in London, from the middle of May to the end of June, about joining the company.

Sources close to the talks said the New York Times appeared to have had a coordinated plan to get Thompson into the job, and that those conversations developed as far as making practical arrangements. Others said Thompson was also considering several other jobs at the time.

Negotiations with the New York Times accelerated in July after the appointment of George Entwistle as Thompson's successor. That left Thompson free to formalise the terms of his appointment in New York and for Entwistle to steer the BBC through its coverage of the London 2012 Olympics.