Subtracting Sulzbergers

24 April 2007 By Rob Cox Follow @rob1cox

How can that be? After all, 58% of the newspaper publisher s shareholders voted in favour of directors at Tuesday s annual meeting. But cut the numbers differently to reveal how nonfamily shareholders voted. A majority of them gave the thumbsdown to directors.

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New York Times shareholders withheld 42% of their votes for directors on Tuesday at the annual shareholder meeting, as a way to protest the Sulzberger's dual voting share ownership in the newspaper company. Last year about 30% of the votes were withheld.

A campaign to change the voting shares has been lead by Morgan Stanley Investment Management, which owns about 7% of the shares outstanding.

Today's withhold vote…is a clear mandate for meaningful change at The New York Times Company, Morgan Stanley said in a statement. Several of the Company's longstanding institutional shareholders, including Morgan Stanley Investment Management, have made specific recommendations to the Board on how the Company can improve its governance, management, and capital allocation. We are disappointed that the Company has not yet moved to implement these recommendations.

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Subtracting Sulzbergers

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