Thread: Mexican Billionaire May Boost Stake in New York Times

Monday, January 19, 2009

Mexican Billionaire May Boost Stake in New York Times

The New York Times Co. (NYT: 6.34, 0.17, 2.76%), the parent company of its widely-read namesake newspaper, may get a new investment from Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

Slim, who already owns a stake in the Times, may take an additional stake in the company though a preferred stock issue, or something similar, the Journal reported. It could possibly be similar in structure to Warren Buffett’s $10 billion investment in the Wall Street bank Goldman Sachs (GS: 72.76, -5.07, -6.51%) made back in September.

Shares of the Times were unchanged on Monday because of the holiday.

The Journal, citing sources, said there wasn't a specific amount being discussed at the moment but currently it is expected to be in "hundreds of millions of dollars" arena.The Times said the investment might be around $250 million.

The possible investment would come at a critical time for media company, who has been struggling in tough media market that has crippled nearly every newspaper. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week, and other companies such as Lee Enterprises (LEE: 0.35, -0.02, -5.41%) have seen their stock fall to pennies.

The New York Times recently mortgaged its newly-built Midtown Manhattan headquarters to raise cash and has had its credit rating downgraded to "junk" by the major rating agencies.

According to the Journal, the toughest hurdle for the Times might be the company’s caretaker family the Sulzbergers, who own the vast majority of the company’s Class-B voting shares. Slim may want to hold more authority with the Times, something the Sulzbergers reportedly are against, making a Class-B stock issue nearly impossible.

Slim, who is estimated to be worth $60 billion from his investments in Mexican telecommunications companies Telmex and America Movil (AMX: 28.76, -0.23, -0.79%), currently owns a 6.4% stake in the Times as of the end of September.

http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/market ... ---report/

related earlier post at
http://www.alipac.us/ftopic-143373-0.html

I went to a motorcycle exhibition at the Javit's Center in NYC on Saturday. Many people are there selling their wares. Well, the NY Times had a booth selling subscriptions. They were sitting there like the Maytag repairman, no one was talking to them about their liberal rag subscriptions. Serves them right.
If this Mexican billionaire was smart, he'd sell his shares and forget about it.

Slim is not just a billionaire, he is the world's richest man last I heard.

Originally Posted by Bowman

Slim is not just a billionaire, he is the world's richest man last I heard.

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