At the same time as its journalists won five Pulitzer awards, New York Times Co posted its widest first-quarter loss in recent times, thanks to a 27-per cent drop in advertising revenue. The US newspaper conglomerate also said the rate of decline in ad sales will be similar in the second quarter.

The company's net loss increased to $74.5 million, or 52 cents a share, from $335,000 a year earlier, the newspaper publisher said in a statement on Tuesday. Sales fell 19 per cent to $609 million.

The company has already cut jobs, slashed pay, halted dividends, and sold assets to help preserve cash after ad revenue slipped 13 per cent last year. The Boston Globe, one of the company's major newspapers, has reported some of the steepest losses.

New York Times, which also owns the International Herald Tribune, is seeking to sell its minority stake in the Boston Red Sox baseball team, and is negotiating additional pay and job cuts with unions.

''Like many companies across America and in our industry, the challenges we face intensified in the first quarter,'' said Janet Robinson, president and chief executive of the New York Times.

''Advertisers pulled back on print placements in all categories - national, retail and especially classified. Digital revenues also declined, although modestly, as a result of the weakening economy. Circulation revenue increased slightly as we benefited from price increases at our newspapers,'' she said.

The publisher is cutting sections at the flagship daily to save money. Earlier this year, it eliminated 100 business positions and said it would slash salaries by 5 per cent for all non-union jobs for the rest of the year, while appealing to union leaders to do the same.

At the The Boston Globe, which lost nearly a million dollars a week last year and is expected to lose $85 million this year, it is appealing to union representatives to cut $20 million in pay and perks or risk the shutdown of the paper.

The Times blamed an operating loss of $54.3m from its News Media Group, compared to a profit of $13.3 million a year ago, primarily on ''significant'' losses at the New England Media Group, which includes the Globe, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette and their websites.

The Times ended the quarter with $294 million in cash, including $250 million held in escrow to complete the redemption of notes, and $1.3 billion in total debt, excluding $250 million of notes in the process of redemption. The company said it had sufficient capacity under its revolving credit agreement to repay $44.5 million in treasury notes due at the end of 2009.