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March 10, 2009
The New York Times Sells Its HQ, Starts Paying $2 Million a Month in Rent
Media Memo
By Peter Kafka
One media watchdog tries to make the connection between the NY Times Corp's sale of its portion of the building it shares with Forest City Ratner and the stock price of Ratner's parent company, Forest City Enterprises:
More cash to shore up the New York Times Company (NYT): As the Times itself previously predicted, the company has sold off (most of) its portion of its Manhattan headquarters for $225 million.
...
Meanwhile, if you want to see what the market thinks of the deal the Times got, check the stock price of Forest City Ratner (FCE-A), the real estate developer that owns the rest of the building the Times is selling.
NoLandGrab: Those who have been watching FCE drop during the past year will tell ya that without knowing who is buying or dumping, it's hard to peg the stock price to an actual event like the sale of NY Times real estate assets.
That being said, FCE-A's performance reflects overall market malaise, especially in the real estate sector, with some deep concern over highly leveraged long-term projects, like Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards, which has a money-hemorrhaging sports team attached to the deal. However, if a media watchdog could actually determine how much of the decline is due to one single event, he or she should be an investment analyst instead.
More at NY Post, TIMES DODGES BULLET WITH COSTLY HQ SALE.
Posted by lumi at March 10, 2009 5:59 AM