Top executives at The New York Times Co. yesterday told Boston Globe staffers that thanks to lower pay and increases in price, the Globe is on course to be profitable, and the paper will not need to be sold if acceptable offers are not found, the Globe reported Thursday.

Times Co. Chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. and Chief Executive Janet L. Robinson expressed gratitude for the sacrifices made by the employees of the Globe.

Although the company has hired investment banking firm Goldman Sachs to oversee the sale of the Globe's publisher, the New England Media Group, and has received a number of bids, Sulzberger said the newspaper was no longer in a position "where we must absolutely sell the Globe or the Worcester Telegram & Gazette for the good of the company," Sulzberger said.

At the meetings both Globe and Times Co. executives said cost cuts were not finished, but did not reveal any specific plans for cost cutting in the future.