NY Times not changing share structure

NEW YORK – Faced with challenges over Internet advertising, circulation and newsprint prices, some leading newspaper executives at an annual investor conference on Wednesday also considered whether to remain public at all – and in what form.

The New York Times Co., which is facing pressure from an institutional shareholder to loosen the Ochs-Sulzberger family’s grip on the company, has said previously that the family did not intend to allow any change in the two-class share structure that maintains family control. But on Wednesday, the CEO of the company, Janet Robinson, went further, telling a conference sponsored by Credit Suisse that the family “has no intention of opening our doors to the kind of action that is tearing at the heart of some of the other great journalistic institutions in our country.”Earlier this year Knight Ridder Inc., which had been the number two newspaper company in the US, was sold and partly broken up following pressure from restless shareholders.Tribune Co., another major publisher, is also evaluating a sale of parts or all of the company amid investor unrest.Shares of many newspaper publishers have suffered over the past two years amid concerns over stagnating advertising growth and circulation as readers and advertisers increasingly turn to the Internet and other media for news and information.In addition to the New York Times, several other newspaper publishers are also controlled by families through separate classes of stock, including The Washington Post Co.and Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal.Nampa-APBut on Wednesday, the CEO of the company, Janet Robinson, went further, telling a conference sponsored by Credit Suisse that the family “has no intention of opening our doors to the kind of action that is tearing at the heart of some of the other great journalistic institutions in our country.”Earlier this year Knight Ridder Inc., which had been the number two newspaper company in the US, was sold and partly broken up following pressure from restless shareholders.Tribune Co., another major publisher, is also evaluating a sale of parts or all of the company amid investor unrest.Shares of many newspaper publishers have suffered over the past two years amid concerns over stagnating advertising growth and circulation as readers and advertisers increasingly turn to the Internet and other media for news and information.In addition to the New York Times, several other newspaper publishers are also controlled by families through separate classes of stock, including The Washington Post Co.and Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal.Nampa-AP