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Is Harbinger giving up on The New York Times Co.?

Posted Nov 20th 2009 3:00PM by Zac Bissonnette (RSS feed)
Filed under: New York Times'A' (NYT)

Activist hedge fund Harbinger Capital disclosed in an SEC filing yesterday that it has sold 2.5 million shares of The New York Times Co. (NYT), reducing the company's largest outside shareholder's stake from to 14.6%. It also sold shares in September, when it reduced its position in the company from a 20% stake.

Harbinger declined a request for comment from The Wall Street Journal (subscription required), but it's possible that Harbinger is finally realizing that the shares' dual-class voting structure will make it impossible to affect change on the company's operations or corporate governance -- and as long as the Sulzberger family controls the company's fate, it will continue to be a value destruction machine trading at approximately the same share price it was at in 1984.

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Boston Globe remains in limbo as auction is delayed

Posted Jul 8th 2009 10:30AM by Zac Bissonnette (RSS feed)
Filed under: Newspapers, New York Times'A' (NYT)

The Boston Globe is burning through cash like an arsonist in an abandoned warehouse and the The New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT), its parent, doesn't have much cash to burn. So now the company is looking to sell the Globe.

The New York Times -- in a fit of editorial freedom -- cites unnamed sources who report that the deadline for the first round of bidding has been extended to allow potential buyers to await the outcome of a July 20 vote by members of the Boston Newspaper Guild.

But there's more to it. According to the Times, "They said possible buyers, wary of taking on the respected but money-losing newspaper, were also looking for signs that a deep slump in advertising was beginning to level off, as some industry executives had predicted it would."

Continue reading Boston Globe remains in limbo as auction is delayed

New York Times eliminates dividend

Posted Feb 20th 2009 8:00AM by Zac Bissonnette (RSS feed)
Filed under: Newspapers, New York Times'A' (NYT)

The New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT) has finally announced that it will eliminate its quarterly dividend to conserve cash and decrease debt. In a press release, chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. said that "Today's decision provides the Company with additional financial flexibility given the current economic environment and the uncertain business outlook."

The New York Times Co. has been struggling with declining profitability and a weak balance sheet, and recently secured a loan from Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim on extremely punishing terms: 14% interest and warrants to acquire 16 million of the company's A shares.

By continuing to pay significant dividends even as the company's balance sheet declined, the Times forced itself into a deal of desperation with very high costs to shareholders.

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