April 21, 2008 (LPAC)-- Whatever else he might have had in mind when his News Corp took control of the Wall Street Journal last year, it is now surfacing that one of Rupert Murdoch's new targets is now the New York Times. The additional, simultaneous attack, by a pair of "event driven" hedge funds, should clarify the point that this is not a simple "business matter," but that the nation's purported paper of record has been targetted by hostile forces.
Shortly after his hostile takeover became official, late last year, Murdoch announced changes to the Journal which went beyond editorial, to the "look and feel" of the paper, as well. With changes beginning today--eventually including color pictures, arts and style sections, even a sports page--no longer will the Journal be directed solely at the financial class, but will appeal to a wider audience--an audience until now served exclusively by the Times. In addition, Murdoch has announced plans to move his "Urinal's" headquarters from lower Manhattan, to midtown, literally in the shadow of the Times.
This must be seen in conjunction with the simultaneous attack by two hedge funds, aimed at the Times' controlling board. In a fight which has evolved over the last year, the hedge funds, forebodingly named Harbinger Capital and Firebrand Partners, have succeeded in placing two operatives on the board of the Times, one of whom is James Kohlberg, son of KKR (hostile takeover artist) founder Jerome Kohlberg. In what could be a fatal move, Times owner Arthur Sulzberger offered the two (non-voting) positions, hoping that would defuse the crisis.
Not with these guys, Art. This is a coordinated attack playing out from many fronts. Today, for example, just as the first phases of the "Urinal's" makeover are scheduled to hit the streets, media outlets, led by a feature article in the current Newsweek, began circulating the line that to protect the Times against this assault, the Sulzberger family should sell its interests in the Times to MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, who could use his business acumen to "defend" the family's interests.
