The New York Times has announced that it’s ending its partnership with Apple News as the service does not "align with its strategy of building direct relationships with paying readers."
The Times was one of the first news organizations to join forces with Apple News, but as of Monday, articles from the publication will no longer appear in the Apple News feed.
Apple has given it "little in the way of direct relationships with readers", The Times said, along with "little control over the business."
The publication has instead decided to drive readers to its website and app, and has said it will continue to work with Apple on apps, podcasts and hardware.
“Core to a healthy model between The Times and the platforms is a direct path for sending those readers back into our environments, where we control the presentation of our report, the relationships with our readers and the nature of our business rules,” said Meredith Kopit Levien, chief operating officer at The Times, said in a memo shared with employees.
“Our relationship with Apple News does not fit within these parameters,” Levien continued.
In the memo, Levien added that ending the partnership with Apple News was not expected to have “a material impact” on the business.
In response to the move, an Apple spokesman said The Times “only offered Apple News a few stories a day.” Moving forward, the company will continue to provide its users with news from thousands of publishers.
“We are also committed to supporting quality journalism through the proven business models of advertising, subscriptions and commerce,” he said.
Apple launched its News app in 2015. With 125 million monthly readers, it has become one of the world’s most widely read news sources.
