Slim family increases stake in New York Times

Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim and his family have increased their stake in the New York Times Company, the iconic newspaper group controlled by the Ochs Sulzberger family.

The Slim family’s Inmobiliaria Carso investment fund purchased 553,000 Class A shares, according to a regulatory filing, taking its stake from 6.9% to 7.3%.

The move comes just weeks after the New York Times Company repaid an emergency loan of $250 million (€173.5 billion) it received from Slim in 2009, paying it off around five months earlier than expected.

Slim still holds warrants to buy 15.9 million more Class A common shares in the New York Times because of the loan, but this will expire in January 2015.

The 71-year-old Mexican tycoon, ranked by Forbes as the world’s richest man thanks to his fortune of $74 billion, first began buying shares in the newspaper group in 2008.

Family member Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr is currently chairman of the New York Times Company, while descendants of Adolph Ochs, who bought the company in 1896, principally hold the majority of the company’s Class B shares through a family trust. As a result, the trust can elect 70% of the board of directors.

As well as its flagship paper, the New York Times company publishes 17 other daily newspapers and about 50 websites.