Friends and relations

If the next two financial years look grim at the BBC, perhaps there's some schadenfreude to be had with prospects for the New York Times, where former BBC DG Mark Thompson is CEO.

A thoughtful piece in the New York Observer suggests Mark, having pruned the journalism side of the operation, will have to contemplate the business side of the business, and make senior management cuts in the year ahead. This mirrors his BBC decision to accept Mark Byford's offer to step down as Deputy DG - an offer, one suspects, Mark didn't really expect to be taken up.

The problem at the New York Times is that the many of the executives are related to publisher Arthur Sulzberger. Still, Mark's own salary ($1m in basic, $1.5m in bonuses, $2m in shares and 450k in sundries) ought to keep his brain ticking over on solutions...