Both the New York Times and its sister paper, the floundering Boston Globe, covered the emergence of a serious and powerful Wall Street foe girding for battle with the company over its two tier shareholding system, attempting to mobilize pressure to get the company to abandon it.

A battle of some sort will ensue, and it promises to get very interesting very soon. Both sides have already enlisted PR firms.

Without the special voting rights of Class B shares, the management of Pinch Sulzberger could be fired by shareholders representing a majority of the firm's capital. Hassan Elmasry of Morgan Stanley Investment Management has established an investment fund which buys stock in undervalued companies with strong brands. Usually, the problem is bad management.

The firm owns 7.6% of the shares of the New York Times Company. But control of the company's board rests in the hands of trustees who control the family trust which actually holds the family's shares.

Following the election, I intend to to focus on what may be quite an interesting situation. Wednesday is the deadline for submitting resolutions for the company's annual meeting next year. Elmasry will give us a better sense of what his strategy will be to realize the hidden value in the New York Times Company.

This promises to become a fascinating battle, a multi—dimensional chess match, perhaps.

Thomas Lifson   11 6 06