New York, Feb 22 (IANS/EFE): The New York Times Company said it wanted to sell its New England Media Group division, which includes The Boston Globe and other publications, to focus on its core newspaper business.

The company bought The Boston Globe in 1993 for $1.1 billion in what was the biggest acquisition in its history, but that newspaper's total average daily circulation has plunged nearly in half over the past decade from more than 430,000 readers in 2002 to just over 230,000 at present.

Other assets the company will seek to shed include the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, the BostonGlobe.com, Boston.com and Telegram.com Web sites, the GlobeDirect direct-mail marketing company and its 49 percent stake in Metro Boston, a free newspaper.

Times president and CEO Mark Thompson said in a statement that those newspapers and their related digital properties are all "well-managed leaders in their markets with real opportunities for future development".

The New York Times Company, which had already tried to sell The Boston Globe in 2006, said it has hired Evercore Partners Inc., an independent investment firm, to assist with the process but noted that "there can be no assurance that any transaction will take place".