Times Co. chief optimistic, cautious on Globe

It wasn’t unanimous, but it was a reflection of the relief felt by many among the rank and file after a tumultuous period. Acknowledging that the process of seeking offers for the Globe had been “unnerving for all,’’ Robinson said the paper and its website, Boston.com, would remain a part of the Times Co., thanks to deep cost cuts and new revenue that had improved the finances of New England’s largest newspaper. She warned of more difficult times ahead, including potential layoffs, but declared, “There are many reasons to believe that The Boston Globe has a very strong future ahead of it.’’

Her optimism was a major reversal from early this year, when the Times Co. said the Globe was on track to lose $85 million in 2009. In April, the parent company said it would shutter the Globe if the paper’s unions didn’t agree to give up $20 million in wages and benefits. And even as it won those concessions, the Times Co. hired Wall Street’s Goldman Sachs & Co. to solicit bids on the Globe and another paper it owns, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.

Ultimately, the offers submitted by former Globe executive Stephen Taylor and California investment firm Platinum Eq uity were too low - in the range of $35 million plus pension liabilities - to be attractive to the news giant that bought the Globe in 1993 for $1.1 billion. The Times Co. is still exploring a sale of the T&G, which was purchased for $296 million in 2000.

The expense cuts achieved at the Globe meant that Robinson and Times Co. chairman Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr. did not feel they had to sell the Globe at any cost.

“We had already seen strong financial performance improvement, and we felt as though a lot of great things had been done here to really put cost and revenue back into alignment,’’ Robinson said during an interview after yesterday’s employee meeting. In addition, it was the loyalty of the Globe’s readers, even amid rising prices, that had an impact on the thinking of Times Co. executives.

“I hope you all realize how the community embraced all of you during this period of time. It said something about the power of the Globe,’’ Robinson told employees during a 40-minute appearance. And it appears to have convinced the Times Co. that the Globe and its Boston.com website, one of the largest news sites in the nation, has plenty of potential - with advertisers and a broadening circle of readers.

Robinson praised the employees of the Globe and Boston.com for “diligently and courageously transforming their business and their journalistic operations.’’ But she did not promise a pain-free future.

She declined to comment specifically on the Globe’s profitability, saying, “Our financial situation is better,’’ but, “We are not out of the woods.’’

Responding to questions from employees, both Robinson and Globe publisher P. Steven Ainsley said it was unlikely that the company would reverse wage and benefit cuts any time soon, and said that further job cuts could not be ruled out.

“The reality is that we still have more work to do on controlling our expense base,’’ Ainsley said. He reminded employees of a recent internal update on the paper’s financial performance when “Regrettably, there was still red,’’ he said, indicating losses. Layoffs in the months ahead are “not only something that we have to seriously consider,’’ he said, but “may well happen.’’

Robinson, who flew into Boston yesterday morning, spent half the day at the Globe, meeting with employees and senior executives, and eating lunch with Ainsley in the Globe cafeteria. The market reacted positively early in the day to the Times Co.’s news that it would not sell the Globe, and the stock rose, but ended the day unchanged, at $8.67.

Media analyst John Morton said he felt it was a positive outcome for the Times Co. to keep the Globe. “The decision to [sell] was probably an unhappy one, and when they didn’t get anything near what they thought it was going to be worth, that fed their decision,’’ he said. Papers like the Globe, he added, are likely to see some improved performance as the economy recovers, but not as much as in the past, because the Internet has become such a huge competitor for ads and readers.

Robinson, in her Globe interview, acknowledged that cost cuts are not a constructive long-term plan. She said the Times Co. and the Globe are working hard to generate new revenues in advertising, in circulation, online, and in creative new ways. And there is deep consideration of how to keep readers coming to websites, while also finding ways to earn money for content that news organizations produce that gets disseminated for free on Google and aggregators like the Huffington Post.

“I think there isn’t a content provider - whether it be print or broadcast or even pure Internet plays - that doesn’t consider that question on a daily or an hourly basis in regard to how their content is being used and reused and reused and reused,’’ Robinson said.

Robinson said the Times Co. is still aiming to sell its 17.5 percent stake in the Red Sox by the end of the year.

Questions linger as to whether the Times Co. might still sell the Globe one day, and Robinson, in response to an employee question, said she could not predict the future. But she indicated an open-ended commitment.

“I don’t want to underestimate the pride that the Times Co. has in owning the Globe for the number of years that we have owned it,’’ she said. “And I don’t want to underestimate, certainly, the pride that we will have going forward.’’

Beth Healy can be reached at bhealy@globe.com; Robert Weisman can be reached at weisman@globe.com.