BizJournals Portfolio

Daily Brief

Recent Blog Posts

Apr 20 2007 12:00am EDT

Milstein Has "Full Confidence" in Times' Management

On the heels of the New York Times Company's disappointing earnings announcement yesterday, billionaire banker Howard Milstein has stepped up his support of Arthur Sulzberger Jr. in advance of Tuesday's annual shareholder meeting.

John Hart, vice chairman and treasurer of Milstein's Emigrant Bancorp told Conde Nast Portfolio today that Milstein has "full confidence in the management of the New York Times, and we will vote to reelect the current board."

In making his first public expression of support for Sulzberger and the Times, Milstein, the billionaire who bought 6 million shares of the New York Times Company worth $150 million in December, has surfaced as a powerful Sulzberger ally in the proxy fight being waged by Morgan Stanley Investment Management's Hassan Elmasry and Private Capital Management's Bruce Sherman.

Before buying his shares of the Times Company, Milstein called Sulzberger offering his support, and signaled that his investment was friendly, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Last year, more than 30-percent of the Times' shareholders withheld votes for the company's slate of board nominees, so Milstein's pro-Sulzberger move comes at a critical juncture for the paper.

This year, with Elmasry stepping up his public campaign against the Sulzbergers' control of the Times Company board through its Class-B voting shares, a higher percentage of votes are expected to be withheld at the meeting on Tuesday.

by Gabriel Sherman


Laura Rich is a co-founder of Recessionwire, which provides news, advice, perspective and humor about the recession and the recovery.
blog comments powered by Disqus
 
U.S. Uncovered

Which cities were still making money during the recession and which went under? Our analysis.

Best U.S. metro areas that are most conducive to the creation and development of small businesses.

A look at the places best primed economically to host a major-league sports franchise.

spotlight on

Multimedia

Wealth Central

The Great Recession certainly took its toll on cities across the United States. But even with high unemployment rates and declining wages, some communities have done very well for themselves. View Interactive Feature