Yesterday afternoon, The Boston Globe staff received a memo from the paper’s owner The New York Times Co.‘s chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. and CEO Janet Robinson informing them that the company no longer planned to sell the Boston paper.

The memo, which the Globe posted on its Web site Boston.com, read in part:

“The Globe has significantly improved its financial footing by following the strategic plan it set out at the beginning of this year. All along, we explicitly recognized that a careful restructuring of the Globe was one possible route and, thanks to your hard work, that is precisely what has been done.”

Robinson will be visiting Boston for a townhall meeting today at 11 a.m., the memo added. We hope she will address the Globe‘s employees’ previous concerns about layoffs and other cost-cutting measures.

Meanwhile, the Times Co. is still seeking “strategic alternatives” for its other Massachusetts paper, The Worcester Telegram & Gazette. The memo and this SEC filing both emphasize that those negotiations will be wrapped up soon.

Meanwhile, the Globe‘s largest union, which first rejected the Times Co.’s proposed contract changes earlier this year, has taken action against its president Dan Totten, accusing him of misappropriation of funds. We’re interested to see how the union’s challenges will affect the representation of employees as the paper moves forward under Times Co. management.

Either way, the Times Co.’s announcement was a cause for celebration today in Boston. Case in point: the Globe‘s story about the decision today was entitled, “Sighs of relief heard as the Globe saga subsides.”

Related: Sulzberger, Robinson Explain Why Readers Embrace Print