By Kenneth Li 1 hour, 1 minute ago
NEW YORK (Reuters) -
Nothing is sacred except the flagship
newspaper, New York Times Co said on Tuesday, addressing
investor concern over a sluggish share price and calls by an
investor group to sell non-core assets.
The company, whose stock has sunk 35 percent since a high
last June, faces a proxy battle by dissident shareholders
Harbinger Capital Partners and Firebrand Partners, who aim to
push the company to invest more heavily and quickly in digital
businesses.
The dissident group, which owns 19 percent of the company's
publicly traded Class A shares, is seeking four board seats up
for election by shareholders at the next annual shareholder
meeting on April 22. The other nine board members are elected
by the Ochs-Sulzberger family.
"We are not married to any one asset, other than the New
York Times newspaper," Chief Financial Officer James Follo said
at the annual Bear Stearns media conference in Florida,
referring to the newspaper and its Web site. But he added,
"We're not going to do a deal until the valuation is right."
The role of the Times newspaper in setting the U.S. news
agenda was highlighted again this week with its report that New
York Governor Eliot Spitzer had been linked to a prostitution
ring. Times executives at the Florida conference said the story
had helped boost traffic to its NYTimes Web site by 60
percent.
Spitzer has neither confirmed nor denied the report, but he
apologized to his family and the public on Monday, saying he
had "failed to live up to the standard I expected of myself."
The report has triggered political upheaval in New York and
calls for his resignation.
Wall Street analysts and sources familiar with the
dissident investor group's thinking have identified the Boston
Globe, the estimated $1 billion New York Times building in
Times Square, and a collection of regional newspapers as
possible candidates for a sale.
But some analysts say the company, whipped by an
industrywide decline in print advertising and circulation, has
already taken steps in the right direction. Their view is that
a speedy sale of assets in a tough climate for newspaper
valuations would add little to shareholder value.
New York Times Co executives told investors on Tuesday the
company routinely evaluates its portfolio of businesses, which
also includes the Boston Red Sox baseball team, the
International Herald Tribune and Web information site
About.
Addressing calls by some investors to sell off the
financially lackluster Boston Globe and 14 regional newspapers,
Chief Executive Janet Robinson said the time wasn't right to
consider a sale, given the low valuations the market has
ascribed to newspaper properties. She said the company would
continue to review its position.
Shares of New York Times Co were down 8 cents to $17.14 in
midday trade on the New York Stock Exchange.
(Reporting by Kenneth Li; editing by John Wallace)
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