In your autumnal Monday media column: the NYT Co's paying back Carlos Slim early, the NYO may buy Dealbreaker, Richard Spencer's OK! mag deal confirmed, Richard Siklos goes into PR, and Nikki Finke is as litigious as ever.

  • Shady Mexican megabillionaire Carlos Slim lent the New York Times Co. $250 million at a 14% interest rate early last year, in what amounted to a subprime loan to a desperate, desperate company. The NYT Co. had originally planned to finish paying back the loan in 2015; now they say they'll have it all paid back by January 2012. It's a sign of strength from the Times, and it should save them some money...although if they hit another serious economic rough patch, or if they're not able to reap big revenue gains from online advertising and apps in the coming two years, they're going to wish they hadn't been so hasty. Remember that time the NYT Co. spent billions buying its own stock only to see the value of that stock plummet? It would be a little bit like that. At least it'll put an end to those bi-annual Carlos Slim takeover rumors. And it'll bring back the bankruptcy rumors! So much more fun.
  • The New York Observer is reportedly close to buying Dealbreaker, the Wall Street-centric blog, for "$500,000 to $1,000,000," according to Business Insider. Dealbreaker's great, but it's a bit strange that Jared Kushner would sink money into that while letting the NYO's most talented staffers walk out the door, one after the other.
  • As we heard this morning, OK! Mag has indeed named former In Touch editor Richard Spencer as its new editor, replacing Mark Pasetsky. Just another month at OK! Magazine.
  • Richard Siklos was a big time media reporter for Fortune and the New York Times. No he's Time Warner's newest PR man. At a certain point in a reporter's career, the motherfucker is ready to get paid.
  • National Journal, which has been on a freakin' amazing hiring tear lately, has poached former NYT economics writer Edmund Andrews from his current gig at Fiscal Times.
  • We have a big surprise for you and that is the news that mild-mannered Hollywood hermit Nikki Finke is suing someone! Her parent company is suing Boxofficeworld.com for copyright infringement, alleging they lift Nikki's stories. Btw Nikki, John Cook will be back soon!