The New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT) is close to selling the 19 floors it occupies in the 52-story building that serves as its headquarters. The prospective buyer is W.P. Carey & Co. (NYSE: WPC).
The deal would be structured as a sale-leaseback, with the company continuing to occupy the space and pay rent. The New York Times Co. would also receive an option to repurchase the space in ten years. The Times own 58% of that building and would continue to rent the space it does not use to other tenants; that space would not be involved in the deal.
The Wall Street Journal reports (subscription required) that "a spokeswoman for Times Co. said the company is pursuing a sale-leaseback of the building for as much as $225 million but wouldn't comment further."
The deal will give the company some badly needed cash, although Carlos Slim's $250 million investment in the company ameliorated the urgency somewhat. It's unfortunate that The New York Times Co. paid out tons of dividends when times were good instead of putting something aside for a rainy day. Now it has no choice but to sell off a stake in the company at a paltry valuation while looking to shop real estate in a Manhattan market that is just starting to take a turn for the worse.
New York Times close to selling part of headquarters
Posted Jan 23rd 2009 12:00PM by Zac Bissonnette
Filed under: Newspapers, New York Times'A' (NYT)
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-23-2009 @ 1:45PM
BHarrison said...
Our capitalistic system is quickly unraveling due to all of the MASSIVE FRAUDS; and our printed news media has been purchased by a few individuals . . . "freedom of the press" has been dead for many decades now.
Not only is our economic system in "melt down", now we are losing the only news media that has any "depth". Neither our economy nor our "freedom of the press" will ever be the same as in the past.
The America of today is definitely not the America of the 1950s or 60s. "People have the type of government, economy, and freedom of the press that you deserve to have . . ." If we want "better" then we are going to have to work hard for that.