New York Times CEO Abruptly Quits

The New York Times Co., which in addition to its flagship paper publishes The Boston Globe and the International Herald Tribune, among others, will begin a search for internal and external candidates to replace Robinson, 61.

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Until then, publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. will oversee the company, the Times said in a statement announcing Robinson's planned retirement.

News of Robinson's planned departure coincides with the retirement of Martin Nisenholtz, the company's longtime digital leader, at the end of the year, meaning the Times Co. will start 2012 without a CEO or digital boss.

The Times Co. gave no explanation for Robinson's sudden departure, which caught analysts as well as company insiders by surprise. Speculation among industry observers and the analyst community centered on the company's faltering stock price, which has declined more than 80 percent since Robinson was appointed CEO in December 2004. This year alone, shares are down nearly 25 percent, a performance that has frustrated investors.

Times Co. shares, which had traded in the mid-$30s during one point in Robinson's tenure, closed trading Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange up 1.8 percent, or 13 cents, to $7.53.

"It is very unusual to have a long-time CEO suddenly announce her leaving within two weeks with no replacement," said Evercore Partners analyst Douglas Arthur. "She's done a lot of good things, but at the end of the day the stock price is the ultimate measure of success."

In a recent interview, Robinson said she considered it a "mandate to increase shareholder value," but argued she had done so through building a "multiplatform company" even during a period of "economic uncertainty and secular pressures."

Within the New York Times' newsroom, word of the shakeup began to spread about 20 minutes before the announcement.

"No one had an inkling this was coming," said a source at the paper, who declined to be named. "As recently as last week she was taking meetings with people and mapping out business plans for well into next year."

Robinson, who has worked at the company for nearly three decades, became president and chief executive officer in late 2004. In the following years, she was credited with lowering costs, improving the balance sheet and establishing a plan to charge for online content.