Monday Note

The New York Times Company has reached a deal with Harbinger Firebrand, the hedge fund that was knocking (hard) on its door. For the first time since it became public in 1967, the Times will open its board to outsiders. The two new directors will advocate asset sales (the Boston Globe for instance) as well as aggressive investments in the Internet. The Sulzberger family retains the supervoting shares, but board meetings won’t be as comfy as they used to be when “we all were family”.
> story in the New York Times and as seen by the rival, The Wall Street Journal

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1. Hedge Fund eyeing on The NY Times TweetHarbinger Capital Partners, an Alabama-based hedge fund, gave notice Friday that it would try to elect directors to The New York Times Company board. The very same day, Harbinger did the same with Media General, a Virgina based company that owns 25 newspapers and 75 online properties. The Times is almost immune from an unwanted [...]...
2. Shareholders on the offensive at the NY Times TweetNot everyone is discounting the value of great newspapers. Take Scott Galloway for instance. He’s leading the fight for a board position at the New York Times after Firebrand/Harbinger LLC, a company created for this offensive, disclosed a 4.9% stake in the capital of the NY Times Company. His pitch : creating more value for [...]...
3. Marc Andreessen’s NY Times Deathwatch TweetThe following has to be seen, not as a particularly acute media analysis, but as an interesting barometer of the perception of the press by the digerati. In that instance, Marc Andreesen, co-founder of Netscape with Jim Clark, remains quite a voice. And it was noteworthy when he said : “…I hereby inaugurate my New [...]...
4. At the NY Times, job cuts and outsiders pressure TweetThe New York Times caught between Wall Street and Wall Street. On one side of the The Street, the group faces a major offensive of the Harbinger/Firebrand hedge fund which now owns 10.5% of its stock. The attacker is pushing hard for a board upheaval. In response, the Times made some changes on his board [...]...
5. Harbinger increases pressure on the nY Times TweetAt least someone believes in newspapers. Harbinger Capital Partners grabbed two seats at The New York Times Company’s board as it increased its ownership, now close to 20%. The stake is currently valued at $520m. Pressure on the Times management for decisive changes will keep mounting. > story in Reuters...