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The NY Times has announced that the would be cutting down their dividend from 23 cents a share to 6 cents a share, in order to save $97.8 million a year. The company’s stock now trades at $5.27 per share.

Speaking on the move Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., chairman of the Company said:

This was a difficult but necessary decision that will provide us with greater financial flexibility in these uncertain economic times. Most industries are feeling the need to conserve cash and ours is as well, particularly given the secular challenges we face. Throughout our history, we have successfully weathered difficult periods by maintaining our brand promise of providing high-quality journalism. In order to continue to do so, we have taken decisive steps to reduce capital spending, lower operating costs and re-evaluate our assets. We expect that this steep cut in the dividend, coupled with our other actions, will help us decrease debt and improve the liquidity of the Company, a prudent measure in this operating environment.