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April 20, 2006
A Little More Gray Lady Schadenfreude
Investors holding 28% of the shares of The New York Times Company withheld their votes for directors at the annual meeting Tuesday. Hassan Elmasry — Managing Director of Morgan Stanley Investment Management, the Gray Lady's fourth-largest shareholder and the only dissenting shareholder identified — said the objective was to improve management and share performance.
Both management and financial performance certainly could stand some improvement. As noted here previously with warm satisfaction, the NY Times' fourth-quarter earnings fell 41% from the same period the year before, following a 52% decline in third-quarter profit. Wall Street has been getting antsy about the company's high financial leverage, deteriorating operating margins, and weak free cash flow available for debt reduction. All this is combined with the fact that ever fewer people regard the left-wing paper as a credible news source.
Unfortunately for the Times, reform can occur only with the say-so of the Ochs-Sulzburger family. Only four of 13 board members are elected by primarily public Class A shares. The other nine are elected by Class B shares, 90% of which are held by the Ochs-Sulzburger clan, which is led by Publisher, Chairman, and confirmed moonbat Arthur Sulzberger Jr. (aka Pinch, The Prince of Political Correctness).
"Little Arthur," as Sulzberger is also called, is a spoilt limousine leftist who never matured beyond a junior high level. His policy of bending over backwards to discriminate against Caucasians and heterosexuals created the environment that brought about the Jayson Blair scandal, which was one of the last nails in the coffin of the Times' credibility. According to a 2003 Rasmussen poll, only 46% of Americans regarded the Times as a reliable news source (as opposed to 72% for Fox News). By now Pinch would probably kill to see that 46% again — though the Times still seems to set the agenda for network news.
The Times' two ownership classes result in a "a lack of accountability to all of the company's shareholders," according to Elmasry, who notes that "Despite significant underperformance, management's total compensation is substantial and has increased considerably over this period."
Remember that, if you happen to hear the Gray Lady yelping that gas prices are high because of greedy executives.
Oh, and did I mention that the NY Times website was down for four hours yesterday evening? Bwahahahaha!
Posted by Van Helsing at April 20, 2006 5:11 PM
Comments
It was only a matter of time that ol' Pinchy had to answer to the shareholders. My only question is "Why do so many other newspapers still get their main feeds from this very crappy paper?"
Posted by: nikko at April 21, 2006 11:30 AM
