The New York Times company suffered a reverse in the second quarter this year with net income down by 54% and profit slipping by 21%.

Net income of $9.2m in the three months up to the end of June fell from $20.1m in the same period of 2013. Operating profit of $55.7m dropped from $70.7m.

The company blamed a decline in print advertising along with increased investment in digital products as it pursues a strategy of digital transformation.

Although the number of digital subscribers increased by 32,000 in the quarter (taking the total to 831,000), audience growth for its website and its core mobile app appears to have flagged.

Its new products, which included the NYT Now app, an opinion app and Times Premier, — did not boost subscriptions as much as expected.

Chief executive Mark Thompson said: "We underestimated the challenge of presenting the new wide arrange of choices to our users and left some consumers confused as a result."

He said it was necessary to "refine some of the offers and the way we market the portfolio to accomplish this."

The unsurprising response by investors was a fall of more than 8% in the company's stock price.

Sources: Financial Times/New York Times/Wall Street Journal