Carlos Slim Is Cutting His Stake In 'The New York Times' By 50 Percent

Billionaire Carlos Slim is a big financial investor in The New York Times Company, but according to recent financial reports, his stake in the media company is a lot smaller than it used to be – about fifty percent less, to be precise. Earlier in December, Slim's company let go of $250 million in trust securities to various trust funds, with the buyers getting a stake of nine percent in The New York Times Company which will revert back to the company after a period of three months. As the original Bloomberg report on the sale puts it:

"In essence, the billionaire created a trust, pledged New York Times shares to it, locked the shares up for three years, then sold rights to that stock to investors."

In the summer of this year, Slim had a 17 percent stake in New York Times, but following the sale his stake rests at eight percent. For the Times Company's part, a spokesman released a statement on Slim's move and his relationship to the company:

"Carlos Slim became a shareholder of The New York Times Company at a critical time in the company's history. The company today has a strong balance sheet and strongly growing digital revenues. We are grateful for Mr. Slim's confidence and support of the company."

Slim's financial relationship with The New York Times and the company that owns it goes back to 2009, when he gave the company a loan of $250 million to keep it afloat past the financial crisis at the time. By 2015, he was the company's largest single shareholder when he made another big investment – and even now, after the sale, he reportedly remains the second-biggest, right after investment firm BlackRock.