Let it die....

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http://www.nypost.com/seven/01182009/news/regionalnews/brother__can_you_spare_a
_times_150654.htm

BROTHER, CAN YOU SPARE A TIMES
GRAY LADY SEEKS RE$CUE BY MEXICAN MOGUL

By RICHARD WILNER

Last updated: 3:12 am
January 18, 2009
Posted: 2:52 am
January 18, 2009

The embattled New York Times Co., trying to wriggle out from under a pile of
debt as advertising revenue dries up, is talking to Mexican billionaire Carlos
Slim about making a sizeable cash investment in the company.

Slim, said to be the world's second-richest person with $60 billion, bought a
6.4 percent common share stake in the Times Co. in September for about $118
million, but is interested in gaining a larger share of the company, according
to a report last night in The Wall Street Journal.

The 68-year-old telecommunications tycoon is said to be discussing a large
purchase of preferred shares. The talks are ongoing and may fall apart, as they
probably would need the consent of the Sulzberger family, including publisher
Arthur Sulzberger, who control the media powerhouse through its ownership of
preferred shares.

The preferred shares under discussion would carry no voting rights, but pay a
dividend, according to the report. His current stake puts Slim among the
largest non-Sulzberger owners of the Times.

The Times is under the gun to raise cash as a $400 million credit line expires
in May. The recession has squeezed the paper, which reported a 21 percent drop
in ad revenue in November.

The newspaper has made some drastic moves recently to increase cash flow and to
raise the needed money, including:

* An ongoing attempt to raise $225 million by selling its 58 percent stake in
the new 52-story Midtown skyscraper and then leasing the office space.

* Putting its 17.5 percent stake in New England Sports Ventures, the parent of
the Boston Red Sox, on the block. That could raise about $150 million.

* Layoffs and buyouts at the flagship New York Times and its Boston Globe
property.

* Cutting back its dividend to investors for three years.

* The recent move to reduce the number of standalone sections and to sell
advertising for the first time on Page 1 of the Times.

For Slim, fattening up his stake in the Times would expand his already sizeable
holdings. The mogul controls Telmex, which handles about 90 percent of Mexico's
land-based telephone service, and Telcel, which has an 80 percent market share
on the country's cell business.

In 1997, just before Apple launched its iMac line, Slim bought a 3 percent
stake in the tech company at a split-adjusted price of about $4.50 a share.
Apple closed Friday at $82.33.

Just Warren Buffet, worth about $62 billion, according to Forbes, is richer
than Slim. Bill Gates, for years the richest man in the world, is worth about
$58 billion, the magazine said.

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