New York Times Co leadership yesterday announced to staffers that the media company would no longer be selling its Boston Globe assets but would continue the search for a buyer for its Worcester Telegram & Gazette division, according to late-breaking news yesterday from the Boston Globe.

In a series of memoranda outlining the revised sale plan going forward, Times Publisher Arthur Sulzberger and Chief Executive Janet Robinson congratulated Globe staffers for the success of the newspaper's restructuring earlier this year, which they credited with "significantly improv[ing] its financial footing." Nevertheless, it was a lack of adequate bids that ultimately prompted the projected sale's reversal, The Times reported shortly following the announcement.

One failed bid came from a team of investors led by former Globe executive Stephen Taylor, according to another late-breaking report yesterday from the Globe. Another came from a California buyout firm that owns the San Diego Union-Tribune.

The actual offer price in recent months is not known, but the Boston Herald observed today that the Globe may have been in too much financial trouble due to the past year's economic crisis to permit valuation. The Times Company paid a record US$1.1 billion for The Globe in 1993.

Robinson is scheduled to conduct a town hall-style meeting with Globe staffers at 11 a.m. today, Reuters reported late Wednesday. NYT shares briefly hiked on the news.