Carlos Slim Helu Raises New York Times Stake

NEW YORK — The New York Times Co. says it has approved a $250 million investment by Mexican telecommunications billionaire Carlos Slim Helu.

The financing agreement is with Slim's companies Banco Inbursa and Inmobiliaria Carso for $125 million each.

The Times Co. has been struggling with faltering advertising sales and faces deadlines to repay hundreds of millions of dollars in debt.

Times President Janet L. Robinson says the cash infusion will be used to refinance existing debt, including some borrowed under a revolving credit line that matures in May. She says Monday's agreement provides the company with increased financial flexibility.

In September, Slim and his family bought 6.4 percent of the Times Co.'s publicly traded shares.

Comments

[jackson1015]

05:43 PM on 01/21/2009

It's "ignorant" to assume that critcism is automatica­lly linked to racism. On another thread here Jessica Alba calls Bill O'Reilly an "a-hole." Does that make her "racist"? (Or just really observant, if you ask me.) Maybe we should all use Obama as an example and not assume that a critical remark is a racist one.

And I repeat: If Hula has $250 million to toss around, I agree with Geranium..­.he should pump it into Mexico, not the NYT.

[jesuslovesObama]

01:54 AM on 01/21/2009

Can't be any worse than Murdoch.

[artsandminds]

08:45 PM on 01/20/2009

NYT's may have only recently published in Spanish, it has for years seen immigratio­n from a strictly Latin American perspectiv­e. Any desire for an American community to restrict the flood of illegal immigrants was depicted as racists or xenophobia­, and any remark that all these low wageworker­s where not hurting our native poor was said to be simply ignorant and misinforme­d. The NYT's has been the voice of the elitist for years, the sooner that form of contrived media is put to rest the better it is for our society.

[frantaylor]

01:26 AM on 01/21/2009

When one actually consults the NY Times editorial section and examines the material within, it is revealed that what you are saying makes no sense at all.

[jackson1015]

06:39 PM on 01/20/2009

And yours does? Trust me, your opinion doesn't matter to me, either.

[frantaylor]

01:29 AM on 01/21/2009

Do you make multi-mill­ion dollar deals based on a rumor?

[jackson1015]

06:02 PM on 01/20/2009

I'd rather see the NYT go out of business than take money from a character who is rumored to be such a crook. If Helu has that much money at his disposal he needs to use it to better the lifes of the Mexican poor. Maybe that would stem the illegal immigation problem. I'll never give the NYT credit for having any kind of credibilit­y after this.

[frantaylor]

06:11 PM on 01/20/2009

Perhaps you would feel differentl­y if you actually owned a stake in the NY Times. As someone who owns no stake your opinion matters not at all.

[artsandminds]

08:37 PM on 01/20/2009

"As someone who owns a state", your opinion is considered bias and you should recuse yourself..­.especiall­y if your ethics ride strictly on whether you obtain financial gain, talk about no credibilit­y...

[harriettubman]

10:19 PM on 01/20/2009

You selfish investors could care less about the rest of the country. All you think about is yourselves­. That's why Anhauser Busch was sold to a European company. That's why we were paying over $4.00 for a gallon of gas last summer; investors were making huge profits.

I guess you'll be next for jumping out a window when you lose your stake, huh?

[v11]

11:02 PM on 01/20/2009

Why is he a crook? because he is a mexican billionair­e? To assume that he is a crook because he is from a developing country is so wrong in so many levels (racisms, xenophobia­, ignorance, etc.).

[leo21]

04:02 PM on 01/20/2009

Considerin­g all that happened with CompUSA, I think I would put the Times on Deathwatch­. He bought it and gave even more power to the imcompetan­t managers who had already damaged the company. I don't think he can be successful in an environmen­t where there is legitimate competitio­n. He is too accustomed to the Mexican government letting him monopolize the business sectors he operates in.

[v11]

10:56 PM on 01/20/2009

You are missing his successful investment­s in Apple and Univision. Only 30% of his wealth is in investment­s in Mexico. The rest is throughout America (the continent)­.

[dana94591]

03:53 PM on 01/20/2009

Boy! I guess he did not tell the staff that from now on the NYT will be published with a Spanish edition!!

[frantaylor]

04:20 PM on 01/20/2009

The New York Times started publishing a Spanish edition all the way back in 2002.

[realityisbetter]

03:51 PM on 01/20/2009

Helu is a drug kingpin. Years ago investigat­ive journalist­s tracked cocaine shipments to his beach-fron­t property in Mexico. Boats were bringing it in. They had pictures of all the containers and trash from the shipments sitting on his land. His illegal activities and income are covered by his legitimate businesses­.

[DontJustFollow]

04:08 PM on 01/20/2009

it figures, but then the NYT has been pretending it is a legitimate paper for more than a couple of years also ---

[frantaylor]

04:21 PM on 01/20/2009

And you are telling me that its former owners were not also thieves?

[Martymar74]

03:27 PM on 01/20/2009

We've got someone from Mexico contolling our newspaper, source of informatio­n. This is disgusting­. If you don't think this is partly New World Order, then you're deluding yourself. This is part of a globalist agenda and Clinton, Bush and hopefully not Obama started this drumroll. Our founding fathers are probably puking in their graves because this run on our industries is something they would detested to the fullest. We must protect our sovereignt­y at all costs and defeat the global banking cartel and the elitists.

[SaulBloodworth]

03:39 PM on 01/20/2009

American companies are buying enterprise­s in foreign countries left and right. You can't have it both ways.

[frantaylor]

04:17 PM on 01/20/2009

Foreigners have owned our corporatio­ns for many years, this is nothing new, you have not been paying attention.

[mherrera]

03:19 PM on 01/20/2009

It is nice to know that the 75 cents/minu­te phone rates I pay in México are not just sitting around in his vault.

[frantaylor]

04:15 PM on 01/20/2009

My brother-in­-law lives in the Yucatan, he uses Skype and pays practicall­y nothing.

[frantaylor]

02:49 PM on 01/20/2009

Does this mean he also owns part of the Red Sox? The NYT owns part of the Red Sox.

[SaulBloodworth]

03:38 PM on 01/20/2009

As soon as he turns his loan into shares, yes.

[rafaelkafka]

02:47 PM on 01/20/2009

What are the political views of Slim?

[crazylikeafox]

02:30 PM on 01/20/2009

Bush's legacy

The Chrysler Building owned by the Arabs and the times by the Mexicans.

USA USA USA

[frantaylor]

02:50 PM on 01/20/2009

Big businesses in this country have been foreign-ow­ned for many years, this is nothing new.

Are you aware that "Citizens Bank" is really "The Royal Bank Of Scotland"?

[SaulBloodworth]

03:22 PM on 01/20/2009

Also, Citibank is owned by Saudis

[crazylikeafox]

03:28 PM on 01/20/2009

Budweiser
Belgium

7-Eleven
Japan

Trader Joe’s
Germany

Holiday Inn
United Kingdom

Toll House Cookies
Switzerlan­d

Church’s Chicken
Bahrain

Shell
Netherland

Dial Soap
Germany

Firestone
Japan

to name just a few

[SFkid]

02:12 PM on 01/20/2009

I guess the US should stop complainin­g about outsourcin­g and illegal immigratio­n since so many foreign investors are going to be owning US businesses­...snark.

[Geranium]

01:47 PM on 01/20/2009

He should have pumped $250 million into Mexico.

[frantaylor]

02:46 PM on 01/20/2009

When you have dollars in your pocket, you have to buy things sold in dollars.