New York Times shares close higher on Tuesday, company buys website-only word game Wordle

The New York Times Co (NYT) said earlier this week it had purchased Wordle, a website-only word game whose popularity has grown considerably recently.

However, the financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

The acquisition comes at a time when the New York Times seeks to expand its digital content and in an attempt to achieve its objective of 10 million subscribers by the year 2025.

Wordle grants every player six chances to figure out what the secret five-letter word for the day is by using the least number of guesses.

Originally released in October by former Reddit software engineer Josh Wardle, Wordle will still remain free-of-charge and its gameplay will not be changed.

“Wordle will now play a part in that daily experience, giving millions more people around the world another reason to turn to The Times to meet their daily news and life needs,” the New York Times said.

Shares of New York Times Company closed higher for a third consecutive trading session on NYSE on Tuesday. The stock went up 3.07% ($1.23) to $41.26, after touching an intraday high at $41.97. The latter has been a price level not seen since January 20th ($42.49).

Shares of New York Times Company have retreated 14.58% so far this year, following another 6.70% loss in 2021.

Analyst stock price forecast and recommendation

According to TipRanks, at least 2 out of 3 surveyed investment analysts had rated New York Times Co’s stock as “Buy”, while 1 – as “Hold”. The median price target on the stock stands at $55.33.