arthur-sulzberger-jr

abalk · 07/25/07 09:00AM

Sometime in the year 2050, you'll be able to explain to your gay husband's adopted children's adopted children that there once was a newspaper called the New York Times and also show them the documents that explain exactly how it went down the tubes. [NYT]

Doree Shafrir · 07/23/07 03:55PM

New NYT ombudsman Clark Hoyt suggests that the paper might try covering the Ochs-Sulzberger family in the same way they cover other stories. He didn't get very far with Pinch, though: "Sulzberger wouldn't talk about his family's trust in any detail, like how the family divides the income." Mmhmm. [NYT]

'Times' Is One, Big, Happy, Diverse Family

Doree Shafrir · 07/09/07 12:30PM

New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. and his right-hand woman, Times Co. CEO Janet Robinson, sent out a memo this afternoon to let everyone know they're re-establishing the "Diversity Advisory Council" at the paper. Sounds to us like someone in the newsroom complained, doesn't it? Also, there are going to be "Employee Affinity Groups" for "the common interests of women, those of African, Asian, or Latino heritage and the LGBT community." Not a member of one of those groups? Don't worry; they're "open to all employees." The full memo after the jump.

Another Sulzberger Youngster Makes Good

Doree Shafrir · 06/28/07 03:01PM

Yesterday, the New York Times ran an op-ed piece by a 24-year-old Brooklyn lad named Ben Dolnick, about his summer working at the Central Park Zoo. Dolnick's first novel, Zoology, was published last month, and it's about an 18-year-old boy from Chevy Chase, Md. (where Dolnick is from, too!) who goes to work at the Central Park Zoo. In a wee review, the New Yorker wrote that "Dolnick seems to share some of his protagonist's immaturity, but he demonstrates an engaging lightness of touch." The book seems to be—we haven't read it—a pretty slight coming-of-age novel in which the protagonist barely comes of age. (It's blurbed by Jonathan Safran Foer, but still! UPDATE: We have learned that they went to the same D.C. private school.) Dolnick's doing pretty well for himself! It probably helps that Dolnick's mom, Lynn Dolnick, is Arthur "Pinch" Sulzberger Jr.'s cousin. Also, she sits on the board of the New York Times Company. Not that the Times, which seems to get its panties in a bunch about conflicts of interest and disclosures and the like, mentioned that. But there's more of this web to untangle.

No One Wants To Steal The 'Times' From The Sulzbergers Anymore

Doree Shafrir · 06/20/07 04:05PM

Back in March, you couldn't talk about the New York Times without someone mentioning how evil Wall Street wanted the company to change its share structure, a system that puts the Sulzberger clan in charge of the majority of seats on the Times board. (Recap! Each "Class B" share, mostly owned by family members, is worth 10 "Class A" shares, which can be bought by the general public. Yes, even by you.) But now, the issue of changing the Times' share structure almost never comes up. Today, for example, the Times presented at the Newspaper Association of America's Mid-Year Media Review, and nary a word was spoken about the share structure. Not only that, but no one even asked about it. Interesting! (Also, Pinch Sulzberger wasn't there, naturally. You never know what he might say!) So just what is on the minds of the Times executives these days?

The 'New York Times' Annual Meeting Brings Out The Crazies

Doree · 04/24/07 12:43PM

The noted shareholder activist Evelyn Y. Davis was annoyed: Her hearing amplification headset, which had been provided by the New Amsterdam Theatre on occasion of the New York Times Company annual shareholder meeting, was not working, and she would not allow the meeting to begin until she was situated. "The woman gave me a broken one!" she yelled into the audience in her thick Dutch accent. At the podium, Arthur Sulzberger Jr. looked perturbed but spoke gently to the woman, as one might speak to one's great-aunt who is being kept in a sanitarium high in the Swiss Alps: "Evelyn, you have to sit down or you have to leave."

Opening Notes From The New York Times Annual Shareholders Meeting

balk · 04/24/07 08:30AM

Today's New York Times Company annual shareholder meeting is expected to be, in the words of the Times itself, a "contentious" affair. What with "dissident investors" like Morgan Stanley's Hassan Elmasry calling for the Sulzberger family to change the dual stock-structure that allows them to control the paper, the stakes have never been higher - even though nothing is likely to change. But how will family head Albert Sulzberger Jr., address the controversy? Gawker has obtained a copy of his opening remarks.

New York Times Co. Gets A Vote Of No-Confidence

doree · 04/05/07 12:27PM

The Wall Street hostilities directed at West 43rd Street are heating up! Influential investment advisor firm Institutional Shareholder Services (better known by the slithery acronym ISS) issued a report yesterday advising that NYT Co. Class A shareholders withhold votes for the four directors that are up for election later this month. The Class B shareholders—those are largely Sulzberger family members—control the votes for the remaining nine directors on the board. So by telling Class A shareholders to withhold their votes, ISS is, obviously, telling the non-family shareholders to tell the Times that they don't like the way the company is being run. Meouch! What else does ISS have to say? And why is this a big deal, anyway?

Arthur Sulzberger's Circle And Hassan Elmasry

Doree · 03/22/07 03:46PM

Yesterday's Wall Street Journal article about Morgan Stanley portfolio manager Hassan Elmasry showed just how persistent a thorn he's been in the New York Times' side for the past couple of years. Since June 2005, Elmasry—whose fund owns a chunk of NYT stock—has been sending letters to NYT Co. chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr., outlining his stern disapproval of how the Times is conducting its business (a lot of it relating to the Sulzberger family's control over the company) and requesting to meet with Pinch. It took ages of lobbying before Sulzberger agreed to let Elmasry come and lay it all out, which he finally did before the board last month. And it was a shit-show.

Media Bubble: All in the Family

abalk2 · 12/13/06 09:50AM
  • The Chandler family, former owners of the Los Angeles Times, are unhappy with the way Tribune is selling itself off. [NYT]

Once Again, Person With Penis In Charge of Telling Upper West Siders What to Think

abalk2 · 10/13/06 08:30AM

So Gail Collins, the first double-x chromosomed human to head up the NYTs editorial page, will be stepping down at the end of the year. She's gonna do the typical "book leave" thing and then return to the "nice lady" column slot previously inhabited by Anna Quindlen. (We're all for the idea of having two female op-ed columnists in the Times, if only to reduce the general feeling of dickishness induced by John Tierney.) Publisher Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., described her tenure thusly:

Media Bubble: CEO Invests In Own Company Shocker

abalk2 · 07/31/06 01:00PM

• Sulzbergers buying up NYT stock. Insert your own "at least someone's buying The Times" joke here. [Boston Herald]
• Is Portfolio the new Inside.com? Probably not, but it gives us the excuse to mention that Kurt Andersen quote about how getting funding for Inside was as easy "as getting laid in 1969" again. Ha ha, what a douchebag. [Hard, Cutting]
• After last week's piece on Wikipedia, The New Yorker turns once again to the Internet, looking this time at citizen journalists or some such. We liked it better when The New Yorker's web coverage was mainly just Rebecca Mead writing about Meg Hourihan. [NYer]

Media Bubble: Even More About Page Six

Jesse · 05/22/06 12:42PM

• Ian Spiegelman tells Simon Dumenco that Page Six is in fact like the Mafia, that its writers at least feel bad writing homophobic items, and that China and Nicole Kidman are off-limits. Also, though his novel's protagonist takes cash for good coverage, he does not believe the JPS charges. [Ad Age]
• Sulzberger apologizes to graduates for not stopping war, achieving equality, and protecting Roe, and legalizing gay marriage. Next week, he'll apologize to his reporters for giving right-wing anti-Timesers a huge trove of new fodder. [Daily Freeman via Romenesko]
• Things suck at ABC News. [LAT]
• Newspaper people — even David Carr's young friends — worry how much longer they'll have jobs. [NYT]

Pinch: Can You Hear Me Now?

Jesse · 05/01/06 08:50AM

The third paragraph of Arthur Sulzberger Jr.'s speech to the Times Co.'s annual shareholders meeting, as delivered two weeks ago and noted to us just the other day:

Media Bubble: The 'Times' Don't Need No Stinking Investors

Jesse · 04/26/06 02:25PM

• Hey, Pinch, there's an upside to keeping your stock in the toilet: It's your chance to take the Times Co. private again. Who to fund the deal? Your buddy Steve Rattner, of course! [NYO]
• Did Jann Wenner try to finagle a discounted rate from the Strokes for the RS 1,000th issue party?? Or did the Strokes try to extort more money from Jann? Eh, who cares. [WWD]
• Bill Keller thinks Bushies are out to intimidate the press. You think? [NJ]
• More changes expected at Marie Clarie — which, somehow, the Post makes at least partially Bonnie Fuller's fault. [NYP]
• Because there's nothing this woman can't do, here's dating advice from Bonnie Fuller. [AMNY]
• Oh, sure, Primedia is a disaster of a company. But why does that mean it shouldn't spend $250k to help cover the cost of its CEO's apartment? [Footnoted]

Media Bubble: All About the 'Times'

Jesse · 04/20/06 03:55PM

• Will the shareholder revolt at the Times Co. finally force the Sulzbergers to address their Pinch problem? Could well be, Arianna say. [HuffPost]
Times site goes down for four hours last night; world survives. [AP via Newsday]
Times to consolidate its four weekly suburban sections into one. We told you this a week ago. [Newsday]

Media Bubble: The Joys of Renegotiating Your Contract

Jesse · 04/07/06 03:20PM

• Bonnie's rich AMI contract is up at the end of June, and — as one of her mags gets shut down and another's redesign is more or less undone — negotiations are underway. Great timing, eh? [NYP (second item)]
• Newspapers execs met in Chicago, surrounded by dinosaur skeletons. Sexy Jon Fine enjoys that metaphor, as he should. [BizWeek]
• Who does Spin hire to replenish its now-virtually-empty staff ranks? An alt-porn auteur and star, naturally. [FBNY]
• Injured ABC anchor Bob Woodruff sends note to colleagues, releases photo. We're very pleasantly surprised to see that he does, in fact, still look like an anchorman. [AP/USAT]
Forward politics writer E.J. Kessler to move to New York Post op-ed gig. Because people jump from socialist to conservative papers all the time. [Forward]
• All the standard kvetches about media? Wrong, wrong, and wrong, says Bill Powers. [NJ]
• Arthur Gregg Sulzberger, the son of Pinch who we've attempted to saddle with the nickname Prince, to leave the Providence Journal for The Oregonian in Portland. Wonder where he'll end up? [Providence Phoenix]
NYT Congress reporter Sheryl Gay Stolberg to become paper's White House reporter. [Media Mob/NYO]
• The Voice loses another, this time investigative reporter Jennifer Gonnerman. [Media Mob/NYO]
• Are Conde Nast editors being shut out of Devil Wears Prada screenings? Um, no. [WWD]