Results tagged “nytimescompany”

Practically from the horse's mouth: The NY Times now says Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim is "near a deal to invest about $250 million in The New York Times Company, helping to shore up the publishing company’s struggling finances." The Wall Street Journal had reported on this development on Saturday, saying that Slim's investment is structured like a loan; the Times adds that Slim may "get a special annual dividend, perhaps as high as 10 percent or more." Harvard professor and author of The Trust, a book about the Times, Alex Jones tells Reuters that Slim is an "ideal" investor: "This is a man who already has made his fortune and is in his own way an entrepreneur like Adolph Ochs was. That's different from some financiers looking for an opportunity to make a killing." At any rate, it's tought times for the Times: A $400 million credit line runs out in May and "as of September, the company had about $46 million in cash; its total debt load is $1.1 billion."

The Wall Street Journal reports the NY Times Company is in talks with Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim about increasing his investment in the company. While it's unclear whether a deal will be made, one option is that "the Times Co. would issue Mr. Slim preferred stock, which carries no voting right but pays an annual dividend, in return for his investment"—in other words, it would be a loan. The NY Times Co.'s financial woes have been more publicized in recent months: It took a $225 million mortgage on its headquarters, is putting up its share of the Red Sox for sale, and started putting ads on page A1; the Post eagerly adds that the Times' "$400 million credit line expires in May." (The Post also loves the Times' apparent whining re: Obama access.) Slim is the second richest person in the world after Warren Buffett; a NY Times Co. special board meeting to discuss the matter is planned for this week.

Less than a month after taking a $225 million loan against its midtown trophy building, the NY Times Company is now "trying to sell its sake in the Boston Red Sox baseball team, seeking to raise cash and shield its newspaper franchise from rapidly falling revenue," the NY Times reports. The article goes onto to say, "With credit largely frozen, this is a difficult time to be trying to sell any major asset, and it is not clear how much interest there might be, or at what price. But over the long run, prices for sports franchises tend to rise fast." The Times has a 17.5% share of the company that ought the Red Sox and Fenway Park as well as a 80% stake in regional cable channel New England Sports Network.