Revenue fell 18.6 percent to $609 million. Operating costs fell 9.5 percent.

The Times's performance highlights the travails of U.S. newspapers, which are trying to sustain themselves despite plunging ad sales, debt and mounting losses.

The problem facing the Times and other publishers is that ad sales keep worsening as the finance crisis drags on and more people go online to read news for free. At the same time, it is trying to maintain its prize-winning flagship paper, which costs hundreds of millions of dollars to run each year.

The Times also is facing the repayment of hundreds of millions in debt, but took multiple actions during the quarter to repay some of it and push back other due dates until a time when it thinks ad sales will improve.

"There were a lot of moving pieces, but the key takeaway is that cost cuts were not enough to offset the revenue declines," Wachovia analyst John Janedis wrote in a note to investors.

At the company's news media group, which includes its daily papers, first-quarter ad revenue fell 28 percent.

Chief Executive Janet Robinson declined to comment on ad sales for the rest of the year, but did say that she is hearing that advertisers generally could start spending more after the second quarter.

The Times said its New England Media Group, which includes the Globe and Worcester Telegram & Gazette, contributed to "significant losses" at its news media unit. The Times bought the Globe for $1.1 billion in 1993. The paper could lose $85 million this year. The Times has threatened to close it.

Robinson declined to comment on a conference call with investors on concessions it is trying to get from the Globe's unions to cut costs.