Dec. 20 (Bloomberg) -- New York Times Co. named Murray Gaylord, a Yahoo! Inc. executive, to oversee marketing of the company's NYTimes.com Web site.

Gaylord will report to Vivian Schiller, a senior vice president and the Web site's general manager, when he starts on Jan. 8, the company said today in a statement. Yahoo said his last day as vice president for brand marketing there is Dec. 31.

The move is part of New York Times's efforts to increase sales at its digital operations as advertisers spend more on the Internet and less on print publications. In the statement, Schiller said Gaylord will oversee marketing, customer service, research and analysts for the Web site.

New York Times is among newspaper companies ``most at risk'' to the Internet's attraction as both a news source and a platform for classified advertising, Citigroup Inc. analyst William Bird said last month. The New York-based analyst made his comments as he downgraded the company's shares to ``sell'' from ``hold.''

The company, which also owns the Boston Globe, has a high concentration of readers in urban markets, making it among the most vulnerable U.S. publishers to circulation and advertising sales declines, Bird said. He lowered his fourth-quarter earnings estimate to 51 cents a share from 54 cents and cut his projections for 2007 and 2008 as well.

Digital Sales

Digital sales of about $270 million this year will account for more than 8 percent of company revenue, Chief Executive Officer Janet Robinson said at an investor conference earlier this month. Revenue from the Web site's Times Select, which requires a paid subscription to view some content, has reached about $9 million since Jan. 1, company spokeswoman Catherine Mathis said in an interview.

Shares of the New York-based company, the third-largest U.S. newspaper publisher, fell 10 cents to $23.91 at 4:25 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have declined 40 percent in the past two years.

Gaylord joined Yahoo in 2000 after working for three years at The Advertising Council, where he was chief operating officer. Earlier, he was an executive in charge of client services at what is now TBWA Chiat/Day, an advertising agency owned by Omnicom Group Inc.

A founding member of the eMarketing Association advisory board, Gaylord is also vice chairman of the American Advertising Federation, an industry group based in Washington. And he is a director of the Advertising Research Foundation and the Advertising Educational Foundation, two industry groups based in New York.

Gannett Co., publisher of USA Today, is the largest U.S. newspaper company, followed by Tribune Co., owner of the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune.

To contact the reporter on this story: Leon Lazaroff in New York at llazaroff@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: December 20, 2006 16:46 EST