Thread: Mex Carlos Slim Purchases 6.4% of New York Times

New York Times climbs on Slim stock purchase

The Associated Press September 11, 2008, 10:47AM ET

NEW YORK

Shares of New York Times Co. rose Thursday after it was disclosed that Mexican financier Carlos Slim Helu and members of his family purchased 6.4 percent of the publisher's publicly traded stock.

Inmobiliaria Carso, S.A. de C.V, a Mexican holding company controlled by members of the Slim family, bought 9.1 million Class A common shares of the New York Times, according to a Wednesday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other major shareholders in the Times include the Ochs-Sulzberger family, which owns a controlling interest, and the hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners.

While the news gave a bounce to New York Times' shares, Goldman Sachs analyst Peter Appert cautioned not to read too much into it.

"We would not interpret his investment as a precursor to some form of restructuring action by the company given New York Times' dual class stock structure, and the Sulzberger family's control via their ownership of 90 percent of the super-voting B-shares," he wrote in a client note.

A restructuring also may not boost the stock any more than where it is already at, Appert added.

He reiterated his "Sell" rating an $10 price target on the shares.

Slim controls America Movil SA, the largest wireless service provider in Latin America, and Mexico's largest fixed-line telephone company, Telefonos de Mexico, or Telmex.

Shares of New York Times, which publishes The Boston Globe as well as its namesake paper, gained 93 cents, or 6.7 percent, to $14.89 in morning trading.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financia ... 4J0UG0.htm

All newspapers are suffering from lack of ads under the current economic mess, and it seems that since the Sulzbergers still have the major say in directions the company takes, including their editorial policy.
Unfortunately, everything including our infrastructure is for sale to foreign investors: Donald Trump just sold his oceanfront mansion to a Russian billionaire who plans to level the place and build what he wants; toll roads and bridges are being continually leased where the foreign investor gets a pretty good return on collecting American dollars. Just to mention a few.