Can I borrow two dollars? My paperboy keeps bugging me!
Posted on 01/19/2009 6:22:27 AM PST by GOPGuide
The rumors about Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim investing in The New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT) are heating up.
Andrew Ross Sorkin reports that Slim is near a deal to invest up to $250 million in a deal that could be approved by the company's board of directors today. According to Sorkin, "As part of Mr. Slim's investment, which resembles a loan, he is expected to get a special annual dividend, perhaps as high as 10 percent or more on this investment, these people said."
What is interesting is that Mr. Slim is not set to receive any control of the company's corporate governance. The company's dual-class voting structure that provides the Sulzberger family with total control of the company in spite of an equity stake of less than 20% has been a sore spot with many investors. Slim is also not looking to influence the company's operations.
But the nature of the deal may make that OK from Mr. Slim's perspective: A special annual dividend of 10% and warrants that allow him to benefit from stock price appreciation if things go well is a pretty good deal.
And while the cash infusion is good news for shareholders because it gives the company a liquidity breather, it will do little to solve any of the company's longer-term issues that created the balance sheet problem in the first place.
Nor does this one time cash infusion make the Times' balance sheet look any better over the long run.
The Times' is still going to be losing ad Revenue hand over fist and will still have to sell its most liquid assets anyway to keep cash flows up.
Worst of all from the perspective of other investors in the Times, it allows Pinch more time to run the place into the ground.
So us news vultures will have to wait a little bit more to feast on the Slime's rotting corpse, but feast we will.
Hey Slim, got a bridge we can throw into the deal. SUCKER!
Uncle Charlie got the money and I got the looks in the family.
We’re still wondering who got the brains.
He’s just paying off the shills for Amnesty for his surplus neighbors.
Wasn’t it $400 million that was coming due around April? If so, this doesn’t even cover that debt payment. And with their continued revenue shortfall, this will just be postponing the inevitable. Why, under such circimstances, would this guy lend money to begin with, unless he was assured first place status on repayment?
The deal makes no sense, heck, Slim doesn’t even get friggin representation on the board or voting rights.
Can I borrow two dollars? My paperboy keeps bugging me!
This guy is a savvy investor and he wouldn't make this kind of investment without an interesting angle.
Not so fast there. In all the talk of what Slim doesn't get, there was no mention of what he gets in the (dam%ed likely) case of default. If the deal was written such that he kicks their butts in case of default, it may have been a shrewd gamble.
I’ve read upon this dude. He doesn’t throw money around. He bought and invested into Telefonos Mexico at a time when the enterprise was considered dead. He has similar investments globally. He’s not really a Mexican either. He’s of Lebanese origins.
If this guy is one of the richest people in the world, then he apparently got there through theft, graft and fraud. He’s not very bright, IMO.
And perhaps his Lebanese background makes him appreciate the Times anti-Israeli bullhorn.
From the article:
The Times said Slim's investment in the company would be in the form of 10-year bonds with warrants convertible to common shares. Slim also would receive a special dividend up to or exceeding 10 percent of his investment.
“Sounds pretty stupid to invest that much money without getting voting rights”
He made his billios through Mexican Government-guaranteed monopolies within Mexico. I’m not sure why he makes all these investements outside of Mexico, but it seems to me that he needs to lose money somewhere. He bought the Puerto Rico Telephone Company from Verizon and has managed to ruin it in a few short years.
“If the deal was written such that he kicks their butts in case of default, it may have been a shrewd gamble.”
In other words, Slim gets the juiciest slices of the Times’ corpse if they fall into Chapter 11?
Interesting, but there is a risk Pinchy will sell all of the most liquid assets before the Times Co goes belly up and leave Slim with nothing but dry bones.
He make 10% per year guaranteed. If things go poorly, Obama will keep them going with a bailout or by making “The New York Times” into a new cabinet level position in his administration.
I wish he would give the $250 million to me. The end result would be the same.
Maybe I will win, probably I'll lose...but you don't win if you don't play.
Maybe Slim will win, maybe he will lose...it really will not make any difference in his life if he loses.
I wouldn’t put it past Obama to designate the NYT an historic entity and start doling out cash to them...
Anyone who can get 10 percent on their money is pretty savvy in my book.
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