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The Takeaway Times In Bed With Robber Baron

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by Jeff Bercovici
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Jan 20 2009 9:46am EDT

The Takeaway: 'Times' in Bed with 'Robber Baron'

NYT Co.: That financing deal between The New York Times Co. and Mexican cell phone billionaire Carlos Slim that everyone was talking about came to fruition yesterday. The details: Slim loans the Times Co. $250 million for six years at 14 percent interest; he gets warrants for 15.9 million shares of common stock, which, if exercised, would make him the company's third-largest private shareholder.

WSJ: Why'd he do it? Here's the weird part: No one frigging knows. "For Mr. Slim, the new investment could be part of an effort to raise his profile in the U.S. by propping up one of its most influential news institutions," speculates the Journal.

Alan Mutter: Or, hey, maybe it's so the Times doesn't publish any more mean editorials about him, like the one from August 2007 that compared him to a "robber baron...or a Russian oligarch, or an Enron executive," and said the methods he used to amass his fortune, "if not technically criminal," were pretty close.

Gawker: Ryan Tate can't get over that 14 percent interest rate: "I pay less on my credit cards." Careful, Ryan, or Arthur Sulzberger will be hitting you up next. □

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