Who Owns the new York Times

New York Times Co. announces that it has authorized a $250 million capital grant from Mexico telecom billionaire Carlos Slim Helu, a transaction that could make him one of Times Co.'s biggest stockholders. "In holding a participation in the New York Times, he essentially projects himself as a power broker in this land, regardless of how his investments turn out," said Armand Peschard-Sverdrup, a senior Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think Tank.

The Times is paying him 14% interest along with options to increase his interest in the business from 6.9% to 17%. Latest Monday, The Times published the $125 million funding agreements with Slim's Banco Inbursa and Inmobiliaria Carso.

The Times President Janet Robinson said the injection of liquidity will be used to fund current debts and give the business more fiscal agility. "Shannon O'Neil, a Latino specialist at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, said, "The New York Times needs gold in the coming few month and Slim has it.

Slim and members of his household bought $128 million of stock in September - an $58 million mark that the Times says has sunk. The Times said Slim would buy six-year bonds in the corporation with options that could be converted into ordinary stock.

Times will be paying 11% interest on banknotes in U.S. dollars and 3% in extra loans, the Times said. There is no proxy for Slim on the Times executive committee and no particular vote for Slim. However, if he exercised the options, he would own up to 17% of the company's ordinary shares, making him one of the company's biggest stockholders.

However, the Ochs-Sulzberger dynasty holds a 19% stake in the business but owns it via a specific category of supervisory stocks. "George Grayson, a Mexico specialist at the College of William & Mary in Virginia, said, "I don't see him interfering. "Slim is part of a harvest of rising millionaires, from Mexico to Russia, who are on a buying trip after the downturn has lowered the price of some of America's best-known businesses and other funding has run out.

Recently, Slim increased its stake in Saks Fifth Avenue, and its Inbursa brokers in Mexico purchased at least $150 million of Citigroup's declining stock. However, Slim did build his fortunes by turning over ailing businesses. It was from his ancestor, a Mexican merchant and immigrant from Lebanon who purchased inexpensive real estate, that he learnt how to earn his living.

Telmex, or Telefonos de Mexico, still provides more than 90% of the country's landline telephone network, while its America Movil is the biggest cellular operator in Latin America. "He' turned a state-owned corporation into one of the most lucrative companies in the country," said Jose Coballasi, an Standard & Poor' s Mexico City researcher.

Today valued at an estimated $59 billion, Slim owns and operates literally hundred of companies in Mexico, from small business and apparel outlets to discotheques and drugstores. Adversaries say that Slim, 68, operates reckless one-man companies that unlawfully obstruct rivals, and is known for enemy takeover bids. When Slim increased his share of Saks from 17 to 17.

At the end of last year, the company's management launched a "poison pill" into its stock holding in order to avoid a take-over of Slim. O'Neil says Slim could help rescue the Times by "essentially loaning the newspaper to give them enough extra credit to make the necessary changes to adapt to the evolving news environment and become more viable again".

"Trusted boundaries between all these companies are vanishing, and Slim, like others, is a part of everyone," O'Neil said.