'Times' Dodges Proxy Fight with Compromise

Those hedge funds pushing for change at The New York Times Co. will get a seat at the table -- two of them, actually.

The company has reached a compromise with Harbinger Capital Partners and Firebrand Partners that should put to rest the prospect of a proxy fight, reports the Times. The funds, which own 19 percent of the company's common stock, had been seeking to elect four directors to the Times Co.'s board; under the deal, two of them -- Scott Galloway and James Kohlberg -- will be nominated by the company for seats. (Read about their backgrounds here.)

To accommodate them, the Times Co. is adding two directors, one representing Class A shares and one representing the more powerful Class B shares, which the Sulzberger family relies on to maintain its control of the paper.

Related: Former New York Times executive editor Howell Raines writes in Portfolio about the threat Rupert Murdoch poses to the Times.