The New York Times Co added fewer paid digital subscribers in the second quarter as it cut back on discounts, overshadowing its better-than-expected quarterly results and sending its shares down nearly 5 percent on Wednesday.

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The newspaper publisher started charging for online subscriptions from 2011 to offset a decline in readers of its broadsheets and has largely been successful in its efforts.

Digital subscriptions, starting at $97.76 for one year, are cheaper than print editions and some plans come bundled with access to its sought-after daily crossword puzzles and cooking recipes.

The company, however, has cut back on discounts it launched last year, when it also got a boost from the "Trump bump" - the effect of U.S. President Donald Trump`s attacks on the paper as well as the Times` coverage of his administration.

New York Times added 109,000 paid digital subscribers in the second quarter, compared with 114,000 a year earlier.

"Our subscribers who came to us around the 2016 Election and post-Election periods continue to retain better than previous cohorts," Chief Executive Officer Mark Thompson said in a statement.

The 167-year old newspaper expects third-quarter subscription revenue to increase in the mid-single digits and advertising revenue to fall in low-single digits.

The company had 3.8 million total subscriptions at the end of the quarter, 2.9 million of which were digital-only.

Digital advertising revenue, which accounts for more than a third of the company`s total advertising revenue, fell 7.5 percent to $51 million, hurt by a drop in display advertising, where it competes with the likes of Alphabet Inc`s Google and Facebook Inc for ad dollars.

However, subscription revenue from the company`s digital-only subscription products, which include online news as well crossword and recipes, rose 19.6 percent to $98.7 million.

Net income attributable jumped 51 percent to $23.6 million, or 14 cents per share, in the quarter.

Excluding items, the company earned 17 cents per share, above the average analyst estimate of 15 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue rose 1.8 percent $414.6 million, above the average estimate of $412.3 million.

(This article has not been edited by Zeebiz editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)