Evercore sees estimate upside for New York Times on Amazon deal

Evercore ISI analyst Kutgun Maral says New York Times (NYT) announced its first artificial intelligence licensing agreement this morning, a multi-year deal with Amazon (AMZN). The partnership adds value to Amazon customers while expanding the reach of Times journalism and content across Amazon products and services, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Evercore believes the “first-of-its-kind deal” for New York Times establishes a “foundation of strategic and financial guardrails for the company to work with AI platforms and providers.” The firm believes the precedent set by the New York Times helps to at least outline a standard that indicates its comfort level with AI platforms, which could ultimately include OpenAI. The Amazon pact “should certainly represent upside” to Street expectations with the newly-renamed “affiliate, licensing and other” revenue,” Evercore contends. It keeps an Outperform rating on the shares with a $60 price target.