When Jack Welch and Jack Connors made their interest in the Boston Globe known, you can be sure they understood this: Though the New York Times Co. might not have any interest in selling, the Welch bid would create enough turmoil to put the entire company in play. And when that happens, people like Welch and Connors usually benefit.
The strongest argument against the Globe’s being sold is that the Sulzberger family supposedly doesn’t want to sell it — and the Sulzbergers control the only class of Times Co. stock that matters. Now the Sulzbergers have an insurrection on their hands, as one of the out-in-the-cold shareholders is protesting his status as a second-class investor.
Can the Sulzbergers be forced to do anything about this? No, not really. But they are not immune from being pressured — especially if all this turmoil begins to take a toll on the stock price.
Discover more from Media Nation
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Insurrection? One company, which owns 7.6% of the shares, bitches and that’s an insurrection? Morgan Stanley’s been raising its stake during the past year — something Gavin ignores. Why would it do so if it were so disenchanted with the stock’s potential? Obviously, having bought on the cheap (as I’ve noted several times, NYT is trading fairly close to its 52-week low), M-S is now trying to push the stock higher and make its profit. And the media are willingly going along with the ploy. Btw, T.Rowe Price, Private Capital Management and Fidelity all own more than M-S. Where are they on this? And does Gavin personally stand to gain anything?