The more people who accept the buyouts, the better, Keller told The Times, as more buyouts mean “the smaller the prospect of layoffs, but we should brace ourselves for the likelihood that there will be some layoffs.”

The Times Company reported recently that ad revenue fell 4.7 percent last year, during which it also reported earnings of $209 million on revenue of $3.2 billion, according to the report.

The New York Times Company has made big cuts in some of its other properties, such as The Boston Globe, and company executives say overall employee numbers are down 3.8 percent compared to a year ago, The Times reported.

The newspaper 1,332 newsroom staffers, the most in its history. No other newspaper in the United States has more than 900. The overall number has risen in past years, mostly due to the paper's online growth.