Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Billionaire Carlos Slim Made Big Gains Off of a Desperate New York Times

Bloomberg reports:
Billionaire Carlos Slim is poised to double his money after investing $250 million in a 2009 lending agreement with the New York Times, showing how dearly the newspaper’s owners paid for his help.

Slim, who controls mobile-phone carrier America Movil SAB (AMXL) and is the world’s second-richest person according to data compiled by Bloomberg, already has earned $122 million from his loan to the Times, based on an annual interest rate of 14 percent and a 12 percent premium charged to the company when its debt to Slim was redeemed in 2011. Under the terms of the loan, the Times still owes Slim additional shares worth as much as $141 million based on the Jan. 17 stock price, thanks to options he received to buy shares at what is now a deep discount.

Slim’s loan to the Times gave the publisher time to sell some assets and bolster a digital-subscription strategy to offset slumping ad sales. The agreement with Slim required the parent New York Times Co. to accept terms that effectively reduced a stock market windfall five years later. By selling 15.9 million shares at a fraction of their market value, the company risked giving up more than $100 million it could raise through an offering to the public.

1 comment:

  1. The day the NYT closes its doors will be a very good one for anyone who appreciates individual liberties.

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