NEW YORK: The Boston Globe on Saturday won a temporary reprieve from closure, after owners extend a deadline for shutting down the newspaper until Monday.

Owners at The New York Times Co. had threatened to shut down the daily at midnight on Friday unless unions at the money-losing concern agree to pay cuts and other cost-saving measures.

"Because there has been progression reaching needed costs savings, The Boston Globe will extend the deadline for reaching complete agreements with its unions" said Robert Powers, a spokesman for The New York Times Co.

The Globe could bleed 85 million dollars this year unless a deal is reached with unions to cut 20 million dollars in costs.

In 1993 the company bought the 137-year-old Globe for 1.1 billion dollars.

Like other US newspapers, the Times and the Globe have been grappling with a steep drop in print advertising revenue, steadily declining circulation and the migration of readers to free news online.