In a pinch, when your options are slim…
The New York Times was headed for trouble the moment the Sulzberger clan (which owns the paper), determined that the heir to publisher Arthur "Punch" Sulzberger, his son Arthur, should be nicknamed "Pinch." There are studies that show that names determine our destiny to a surprising extent. Men named Lawrence have a slightly greater chance ...
The New York Times was headed for trouble the moment the Sulzberger clan (which owns the paper), determined that the heir to publisher Arthur "Punch" Sulzberger, his son Arthur, should be nicknamed "Pinch."
The New York Times was headed for trouble the moment the Sulzberger clan (which owns the paper), determined that the heir to publisher Arthur "Punch" Sulzberger, his son Arthur, should be nicknamed "Pinch."
There are studies that show that names determine our destiny to a surprising extent. Men named Lawrence have a slightly greater chance of become lawyers and guys named Pinch are almost certainly not going to be seen as being as forceful as their dads who were named Punch. Of course, it doesn’t help when you inherit a buggy-whip company at the dawn of the automobile age and the Times, like most newspapers, has certainly struggled to find a new business model suited to the realities of the modern media environment. Nonetheless, the paper still has a unique role in American life, some of which is due to a cachet that has been earned for it by its rich journalistic history. This has played to its advantage this week as, on the verge of financial disaster, the Times turned to Mexican telecom billionaire Carlos Slim to throw it a $250 million line of credit. Slim gets a high interest rate and has the ability to convert the loan into a 20 percent share in the company. What is remarkable about this is that there is been less outcry about Slim’s role. Carlos Slim is very, very rich…for a while last year he held the title of richest man in the world…but he has not taken the most savory path to wealth, winning his telecom franchise under what were alleged to be dubious circumstances and subsequently growing his business to dominate Mexican telephony that would only have earned the envy of John D. Rockefeller. There was great concern in the press when Rupert Murdoch took over the Wall Street Journal…although he is a master media executive who has since only improved and enlivened the Journal.
Now, I know Slim has non-voting shares, but when you might own 20 percent of a paper and have become its banker of last resort, that’s considerable influence in the hands of a guy who bears close watching re: his intentions.
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