Morgan Stanley Urges NYT Shareholders To Unload Their Stock...

Eat The Press November 10, 2006 11:49 AM

The New York Post calls it a "body blow" and it sounds about as painful: Morgan Stanley yesterday urged New York Times investors to sell off their stake in the paper, switching the rating on the NYT from "hold" to "underweight" -- or, effecitvely, "get the hell out of Dodge."

Analyst Lisa Monaco delivered the negative report on the heels of another Morgan Stanley initiative, this time from a fund based in London, agitating to upend the longstanding family control structure in place at the Times which keeps power in the hands of the Sulzberger family, which has come under particular fire during the tenure of publisher Arthur Sulzberger, Jr.. Per the Post:

The downgrade hit the shares hard. The Times stock ended regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange down 60 cents, or 2.5 percent, at $23.93 a share.

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