The new paywall couldn’t come too soon.

Despite all the cost cutting they’ve been doing at the New York Times (CEO Janet Robinson reduced costs by $171 million in 2010), the stock is still down 21 percent for 2010, Business Insider reports.

Janet Robinson took a pay cut herself: in 2009 she earned $4.86 million, but her 2010 salary was only $4.48 million, down 8 percent. Not exactly a tragic loss. We doubt she’s complaining.

Salary cut notwithstanding, it appears that the Times‘ board acknowledged the cost-cutting work Robinson has been doing — it granted her a slightly larger bonus than 2009, up to $2.32 million compared with $2.25 million from the year before. Robinson’s overall salary cut was actually the result of her restricted stock and stock options shrinking, according to Business Insider.

With the much-dreaded (we mean anticipated!) paywall going up for the Times in 2011, it’s a big year to watch and see if its stock will start to pick up (along with the fortunes of its top executives).