The man who saved The New York Times by making it cheaper
In short: In 1896, The New York Times was a struggling, financially battered publication facing a sea of competitors. Adolph Ochs didn't just buy the paper; he fundamentally reimagined its business model and editorial identity, transforming it into a global institution while famously declaring that half of all advertising money is wasted.
Adolph Simon Ochs was born in 1858 to German Jewish immigrants who held conflicting loyalties during the American Civil War—his father supported the Union while his mother sympathized with the Confederacy. Despite these domestic tensions, Ochs built a diverse career starting as a newspaper office assistant at age 11 and later working as a printer's devil in Knoxville. By 1877, he had secured a controlling interest in the Chattanooga Times using a small family loan of $250.
Ochs’s most significant move came in 1896 when he purchased The New York Times for $75,000 after being alerted to its financial distress. To ensure its survival, Ochs took radical steps: he hired Carr Van Anda as managing editor in 1904 to pivot toward objective journalism during an era of high partisanship, and he slashed the subscription price from 3 cents to 1 cent. Following these actions, the publication's audience grew from a mere 9,000 during his acquisition to 780,000 throughout the 1920s.
Beyond business, Ochs was a cultural architect and social advocate. He moved the paper to Longacre Square in 1904—which became Times Square—and established the famous "All the News That's Fit to Print" motto. He also used his platform to fight antisemitism as an early executive board member of the Anti-Defamation League, successfully pressuring other newspapers to stop lampooning Jews. His legacy remains intact today; his descendants have continued to publish The New York Times for over a century.
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