Chariman: Times Co. isn't for sale
NEW YORK - Two investors who were part of a group that threatened a proxy battle against The New York Times Co. were elected as directors at the company's annual meeting yesterday.
Arthur Sulzberger Jr., chairman of Times Co., also used the meeting to refute rumors about a possible sale. Newsweek and the New York Post reported on Monday that Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York might be considering a purchase, a rumor he denied.
"This company is not for sale," Sulzberger said. "This company will continue to have the ownership it enjoys today."
The two new directors, Scott Galloway and James A. Kohlberg, work for the hedge funds Firebrand Partners and Kohlberg & Co., respectively.
The funds had bought more than 19 percent of the company's stock and in January proposed a slate of four directors, including Galloway and Kohlberg. The funds also outlined suggested changes, including selling The Boston Globe, some regional newspapers, and perhaps Times Co.'s new headquarters. They advised a heavy investment in Internet properties.
The Harbinger-Firebrand group was threatening to wage a proxy battle.
Avoiding that, representatives of the funds and executives from Times Co. had several conversations from March 7 to March 14, and on March 17 announced a deal. The board agreed to increase its size to 15 members from 13 and support the nomination of Galloway and Kohlberg as nominees of class A stock owners.
Sulzberger and his family still control the majority of the board through a dual-class stock structure.
In response to one shareholder's question about Times Co.'s resistance to the Harbinger-Firebrand group, Sulzberger said, "I can assure you, we have no disagreement about the need for this to be a profitable company."
Also yesterday, people with knowledge of the negotiations said Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., the company that acquired The Wall Street Journal in December, plans to buy Long Island's Newsday newspaper from Tribune Co. for $580 million.
News Corp. would combine its New York Post newspaper into a venture with Melville, N.Y.-based Newsday, said the people, who declined to be identified because the terms aren't final. Tribune, the second-largest US newspaper publisher after Gannett Co., would have a stake of less than 5 percent in the new entity, the people said.
An acquisition would let Murdoch merge print and distribution operations to cut costs. Sam Zell, who took control of Chicago-based Tribune last year, is cutting jobs and selling assets to counter print advertising declines and pay back $13 billion of bonds and loans.
