The hands of Carlos Slim in the New York Times. The Mexican billionaire who, according to the Forbes Scrooge rankings, would be the second richest man in the world behind Bill Gates, has exercised his option right on 15,9 million class A shares of the prestigious New York newspaper, becoming, to all intents and purposes, the majority shareholder.
The option available to the Mexican tycoon was the consequence of a 250 million dollar loan that Slim had disbursed to the Times. Co in 2009, when the historic newspaper, crushed by the growth of online information, was navigating in murky waters and needed a profound reorganisation.
Reorganization that took place and proved to be decidedly efficient: the investments in the digital market of the Times Co. have, in fact, borne fruit, bringing the New York Times back into vogue, and in step with the times, which now, therefore, passes into the hands of one of the Mexican tycoon, in an operation that, in some ways, recalls the purchase of the Washington Post by Mr. Amazon, Jeff Bezos, in 2013.
Becoming the majority shareholder of the New York Times, of which he already held 8,1% of the shares, however, will not give Slim control of the board of directors of the newspaper. A control that will remain in the hands of the Ochs-Sulzberger family (owner of the newspaper since the 60s), which holds 88% of the company's class B shares and can essentially indicate two-thirds of the board.
