Geffen Would Make NYT a Nonprofit

(NEWSER) - The New York Times' ruling Ochs-Sulzberger family has a “habit of buying high and selling low,” writes John Gapper of the Financial Times. The clan sold the paper’s old Times Square building at a bargain price and bought back shares near their zenith. Now Arthur Sulzberger Jr., "the daffy fourth-generation family member who is publisher of the paper and chairs the company," may sell the Times, which would be perhaps the family's dumbest move yet. More»

Media mogul rebuffed after bid for 20% of company

(NEWSER) - Media mogul and DreamWorks co-founder David Geffen recently offered to buy nearly 20% of the struggling New York Times Company, Fortune reports. Geffen offered market price, currently $194 million, for the shares owned by Harbinger Capital Management. But the hedge fund rejected his offer as too low. He hasn't been the paper's only suitor. Google also "looked seriously" at buying the Times Co. several months ago, but passed. More»

Times begs for its life

(NEWSER) - Newspapers are dying, and there’s only one way to save them, write Yale's David Swensen and Michael Schmidt in today’s New York Times: Make them nonprofit, endowed institutions, like colleges. The Internet has made the for-profit model systematically unsustainable, and constant attempts to refinance and cut costs are just “Band-Aids for a gaping wound.” Endowing them would fix all that, making them “unshakable fixtures of American life.” More»

Paper aims to firm up pay barrier before launch

(NEWSER) - The pay barrier for the New York Times' online content goes up on Monday and the newspaper is scrambling to make it more like a wall and less like a curtain full of holes. Users will be allowed 20 page views a month before the barrier comes down. But articles linked to from Twitter and Facebook can be viewed independent of the limit, leaving a huge loophole that the Times is now seeking to plug. More»

Most won't have to pay, paper says

(NEWSER) - The New York Times’ long-expected paywall is due next month, and details are starting to leak out about the plan. Everyone will have limited free access to the site, sources tell the Wall Street Journal , but once users reach that limit, they'll have to pony up. Users can buy either a subscription to just the site, or a digital bundle that also includes the Times’ iPad app. Subscribers to the physical paper will have full access to the website. More»