martes, 20 de octubre de 2009
International view of Mexico
Brazil-envy is rife in Latin America’s other big economy
WHEN Brazil was not only included but named first among the BRICs, the widely used acronym for the leading emerging economies, Mexican business leaders protested that their country should also have been there. Well, maybe. But adding an "M" to the initial letters of Brazil, Russia, India and China would have made the name much less catchy (MBRICs? BRIMCs?). And the man who coined the acronym in 2001, Jim O’Neill of Goldman Sachs, has said that Mexico (along with South Korea) was in fact considered, but did not quite fit.
Mexico’s Brazil-envy is more intense than ever, as this columnist discovered last week in Mexico City. One local business leader said he was optimistic about the economic outlook, but that was because “I choose to be, because I don’t want the alternative—and, besides, next year can’t be any worse than this, can it?” Others mostly seemed worried, predicting several difficult years ahead.
Alamy
A lament for Mexico
The Mexican economy was hit hard by the slump that followed the collapse of Lehman Brothers last year. Brazil’s economy suffered much less—and is already roaring back, in sharp contrast to Mexico’s. This is symbolised by the strength of Brazil’s stockmarket. Last week Santander, a Spanish bank, raised $7 billion by selling shares in its Brazilian subsidiary, the biggest share offering the country has seen. In June the initial public offering (IPO) of Visanet, a Brazilian credit-card firm, raised almost $5 billion, and there are several other big local offerings in the pipeline. By contrast, the most recent IPO in Mexico was in June 2008.
Part of the problem is that Mexico, especially since the creation of the North American Free-Trade Area, has increasingly specialised in making things cheaply for export to America, a strategy that looks less than brilliant now that the American consumer is on strike. Meanwhile, commodity-rich Brazil is benefiting from exporting to China, which has made up for weaker exports to America with a domestic spending binge which, among other things, requires lots of imported materials to build new infrastructure.
But that is by no means the only difference between the two economies. Mexico has lately been plagued by some serious management gaffes. Cemex, a cement firm that was not so long ago an exemplar of the trend for world-beating multinationals to emerge from developing economies, is suffering serious indigestion after borrowing heavily to make foreign acquisitions at the peak of the market.
Comercial Mexicana, the country’s third-largest retailer, lost a fortune after a currency hedge moved against it when the dollar soared during the financial crisis. This presented an opportunity to Wal-Mart, an American retailer which is the market leader in Mexico. It has taken advantage of its rival’s weakness by expanding rapidly, opening a couple of hundred new stores in the country this year. The only other business with such ambition in Mexico at the moment is the empire of Carlos Slim, a telecoms magnate, which has also been busy expanding during the crisis. More success for the powerful Mr Slim—now perhaps the richest man on earth—is regarded even by Mexicans as something of a mixed blessing.
Mexican business people are also depressed by growing fears for their own security. Violence is increasing in the country as the government takes on the illegal drug cartels, prompting them to retaliate brutally. Mexico is now close to the top of the list of countries where kidnapping is likely. Crime in Brazil’s cities is also bad, but it does not seem to be getting notably worse.
Pemex continues to decline as Brazil's oil reserves, and its state oil firm, Petrobras, soar
In the eyes of business leaders the government’s lack of success against organised crime is on a par with its failure to reform the economy. Although some business people are content that the Mexican economy is dominated by a small, powerful clique, many feel that the lack of competition is a serious problem. Many also lament the failure to reform the sluggish state oil and gas monopoly, Pemex, which continues to decline as Brazil’s reserves, and its state oil firm, Petrobras, soar. Just as worrying is the slow progress in revamping the tax system. Mexico has one of the world’s lowest ratios of tax collection to GDP, which deprives the government of the funds it needs to do its job properly.
Brazilian entrepreneurs found that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and his Workers’ Party were much less hostile towards business in office than in opposition. Lula’s most likely successor in next year’s election is an experienced figure from the business-friendly Social Democrats, who in their last stint in the presidency passed vital reforms that laid the foundations for Brazil’s recent strong growth.
In Mexico, judging by the mood at last week’s Economist conference in Mexico City, President Felipe Calderón may frustrate the business community, yet business leaders have little enthusiasm for the favourite to succeed him, the soap-star-dating governor of Mexico State, Enrique Peña Nieto. Still, at least they take some comfort from the fact that the hard left’s candidate, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who so nearly defeated Mr Calderón for the presidency three years ago, is lagging in the polls.
Mexican business leaders fear that their president, following his party’s heavy defeat in recent parliamentary elections, may see out his remaining three years as a lame duck. The one hope is that, seeing how bad things look, Mr Calderón may be provoked into embarking upon the fundamental reforms that the economy so badly needs. In that light, what could be more encouraging than the government’s decision on October 12th to take on one of Mexico’s most powerful unions by closing down a big, state-run electricity provider? If this battle is won, perhaps Mexican business people can start believing that their country has what it takes to become more competitive and powerful than its big rival down south. If not, plenty more gloom and doom are likely to follow.
domingo, 18 de octubre de 2009
Battle of the clouds Computing
Battle of the clouds Oct 15th 2009 From The Economist print edition
The fight to dominate cloud computing will increase competition and innovation
THERE is nothing the computer industry likes better than a big new idea—followed by a big fight, as different firms compete to exploit it. “Cloud computing” is the latest example, and companies large and small are already joining the fray. The idea is that computing will increasingly be delivered as a service, over the internet, from vast warehouses of shared machines. Documents, e-mails and other data will be stored online, or “in the cloud”, making them accessible from any PC or mobile device. Many things work this way already, from e-mail and photo albums to calendars and shared documents.
This represents a big shift. If you store more and more things online, and access more and more software through an ordinary web browser, it suddenly matters much less what sort of computer you have, and what kind of software it is running. This means Microsoft, which launches the newest version of its Windows operating system this month, could lose out—unless, that is, the software giant can encourage software developers and users to migrate to its new suite of cloud-based services. Its main rival is Google, which offers its own range of such services, and continues to launch new ones and interlink them more closely. Yahoo!, which is allied with Microsoft, and Apple also offer cloud services for consumers; specialists such as Salesforce and NetSuite do the same for companies. Amazon has pioneered the renting out of cloud-based computing capacity. Some firms will offer large, integrated suites of cloud-based services; others will specialise in particular areas, or provide the technical underpinnings necessary to build and run clouds.
But battle has been joined
Life among the clouds
The new approach has great promise. It makes life easier for consumers (no need to install any software) and cheaper, too: many cloud services are free, supported by advertising or subsidised by a minority of users who pay for a premium service. Using a cloud-based e-mail service means you do not have to worry about losing all your e-mail if your laptop dies, and you can access your mail from any web browser. As cloud services expand, the same will be true for other documents and data.
There are also benefits for companies. By switching to cloud-based e-mail, accounting and customer-tracking systems, firms can reduce complexity and maintenance costs, because everything runs inside a web browser. Providers of cloud services, meanwhile, can benefit from economies of scale. Why should every company or university set up and maintain its own mail server, when Google or Microsoft can do it more efficiently? Companies are already happy to rely on utilities to provide electrical power, after all. Cloud computing will do the same for computing power.
The ability to summon computing capacity from the cloud when needed will also give the software industry a shot in the arm. During the dotcom boom, the first thing a start-up had to do was raise the money to buy a room full of servers. If a website experienced a sudden surge in popularity, more servers were needed to meet demand. Today a capacity can be rented as needed, allowing cloud services to scale up smoothly. This lowers barriers to entry and promotes innovation and competition. It also presents an opportunity to Microsoft, Amazon and other companies that are hoping to create the cloud platforms on which other firms will offer services.
To anyone familiar with the history of computing, there is an obvious concern: that one company will establish a dominant position and attract the attention of antitrust regulators. What IBM did in the mainframe era, and Microsoft did in the PC era, one of the new challengers may succeed in doing in the cloud.
Regulators are already acting to head off incipient problems. They are signalling worries about, for instance, overlapping board members at Apple and Google, or the indefinite retention of search histories by search engines. So far none of these skirmishes has led to a big court battle—something technology firms, which are keenly aware of the industry’s history, are anxious to avoid. But there are three areas where users of cloud services should be vigilant, and providers must be responsive, or regulators may yet step in.
A storm brewing?
First is the familiar risk of technological lock-in, as rival companies promote their own, mutually incompatible, standards and formats, as they have done in the past. Moving data from one cloud-based storage system to another, for example, is not always easy. Buyers of cloud services must take account of the dangers of lock-in, and favour service providers who allow them to switch between services without too much hassle.
Second, storing so much personal information, and using it to target advertising, has privacy implications. Consumers who are unwilling to pay for cloud-based services will have to put up with some advertising based on their online activities, since it pays the bills. Most users will be happy to trade some privacy for free services, but they should have control over their personal data, and be able to amend the profiles which service-providers compile and use to target advertising.
Third, data stored in the cloud may not be safe. This month tens of thousands of people with Sidekick smart-phones, for example, lost their address books, calendars, photo albums and other personal data, all of which were being stored in the cloud by Danger, an aptly named subsidiary of Microsoft. But a disaster on this scale is unusual: occasional outages are more common. Ensuring that cloud-based systems become more reliable is in the best interests of the firms that provide them, if they want to attract and retain customers.
Prodded by users and regulators, providers of cloud services are gradually moving towards new standards and greater transparency and reliability. If they do not move fast enough, regulators may yet have to intervene more forcefully. But cloud computing’s advantages already outweigh its drawbacks for many consumers and business users. In contrast with previous computer-industry battles, a single victor seems unlikely this time around. May the best clouds win.
lunes, 12 de octubre de 2009
México tiene 500. Y defiende Proteccionismo.
2 consideraciones para que Ud. tenga temas para su tópico a discutir entre los muchos del día:
1- India, la democracia más grande del mundo y con una población de por lo menos 10 veces la de México tiene un congreso de poco más de 500 representantes. México tiene 500,200 por elección popular y 300 por partidos. Poquísimos de los 500 expresan opiniones propias, sino que votan por líneas partidistas. Hacen pues falta 500 ?
2- Leo y oigo cada vez más que México debe de comprar, consumir y proteger lo Mexicano. Proteccionismo le sale muy caro al consumidor- no importa en que país viva. Además ningún país puede ser autosuficiente. Para tener una buena cosecha de maíz, México necesita fertilizantes y herbicidas que no se fabrican aquí. Y ¿ que haría México si no podría vender su petróleo?
Comenten me, después de leer a los mercantilistas y su desastres, A. Smith, D. Ricardo, y que es lo causo la 2ª guerra mundial en 1939. M. Kaynes escribió sobre ello y otros también.
martes, 6 de octubre de 2009
¿Alabar? ¿Criticar?primer simposio de ingeniería y de negocios en la UABC de Tecate
La UABC de Tecate celebro a finales de septiembre/principios de octubre lo que llamaron Aequus. No es una simbología lograda el usar “u” al cuadrado por los dos u´s de la palabra original. En muchos de los carteles no aparecía la “u” al cuadrado, sino simplemente solo una “u”- Tampoco es inductivo el usar el símbolo de sumatoria en vez de la letra “e”, ya que este símbolo en el alfabeto griego es una “s” = ∑ - el idioma que uso’ esa expresión. Simbolismo ante todo debe ser fácil de interpretar y ciertamente correcto, especialmente en un contexto académico.
Como casa de estudios superiores se deberían ya de conocer estas reglas y no ayudar a inducir a malas interpretaciones. Si el simbolismo no es evidente y claro a una persona con educación, ¿como lo va a ser a una persona sin estudios superiores? “U” al cuadrado y ∑ no son usados a diario …
Otro aspecto general sobre el simposio de ingeniería y de negocios en la UABC de Tecate: se devalúa la labor académica al ensalzar y poner en la plataforma personas que consideran la educación innecesaria. ¿No equivale esto a acudir al chaman para realizar una operación del cerebro por cáncer ? Yo si creo que la medicina natural y popular tiene mucho que ofrecer, pero ¿ es la apropiada para operar en un cerebro canceroso? Asimismo considero que fue un muy mal ejemplo que en la conferencia sobre “ética etc. “se mostrara a los Arellano Félix y otros traficantes de drogas. Y no solo fueron esos los individuos ejemplares. También desfilaron el Che, Lumumba, y otros. Incluso se incluyo al Sr. Cohn Bendit, “el Rojo” de las barricadas en Paris en 1968, Hoy este Señor es bastante mas calmado e incluso participo en el Parlamento Europeo. Los politólogos, incluyendo los europeos mismos, consideran que la estructura política europea es deficiente en democracia. Pocos mexicanos resaltan al discutir la estructura de la unión europea que es una burocracia, no un ejemplo de buen gobierno. Como han demostrado las votaciones negativas, ni Holanda, ni Francia, ni Irlanda quisieron adoptar lo que se llamo la Constitución Europea. El día 4 de octubre de 2009 los irlandeses votaron con una si el “tratado de Lisboa” que ya no se llama constitución y no cambia significativamente el status quo de la deficiencia en democracia de la Unión Europea.
Yo no solo acepto, sino que promuevo que se presenten y discutan puntos muy opuestos de teorías y opiniones en los centros educativos. Pero es inútil meterse en creencias – religiosas o de otra índole - ni es aceptable que se indoctrinen a los jóvenes en los centros educativos. Si hubiera sido un debate con diferentes opiniones es una cosa, pero la oradora de “Etica…” que fue presentada como la experta y presento principalmente personalidades anti-capitalistas como el Che y los otros que rechazaron la cultura occidental como lo hizo Malcom X. Eso NO es admisible.
México como país, como sociedad que la conforma y las personas que la habitan tienen toda la libertad de seleccionar entre derecha o izquierda: Pero deben de hacerlo conociendo las obligaciones y los derechos que estas tendencias implican. Pocos reconocen que las obligaciones son lo primero, y los derechos le siguen y son ‘después’ . En la exposición solo se exigieron los derechos, las obligaciones se dejaron para los demás, especialmente si los demás son los capitalistas. Es de resaltar que el COMITÉ NACIONAL DE PRODUCTIVIDAD E INNOVACIÓN TECNOLÓGICA A C de México mide la eficacia de las universidades en México por el porcentaje de los estudiantes extranjeros que estudian en ellas. Este porcentaje ha disminuido bastante en los últimos 25 años. Los estudiantes mexicanos ahora van a España y Chile a estudiar. Los españoles como los chilenos prefieren ir a Estados Unidos por un posgraduado, aunque desde el 11 de septiembre 2011 los visados para los EE.UU. son mucho más difíciles a conseguir. Y ¿ porque es esto? Si se miran la tabulación de las 100 mejores universidades del mundo, realizada anualmente por una universidad en Shanghai se vera que NO incluye una sola cuyo idioma nativo sea el castellano. Muchísima gente se preocupa si los clubs de football o baseball están a la cabeza de la puntuación y menos se interesan si están en la cola. Pero donde esta la universidad en el ranking mundial no les importa ni a las administraciones académicas, ni a la facultad. Los estudiantes ¡ ni saben que este ranking existe! ¿ Les debería de importar? Evidentemente no es lo mismo la graduación de Columbia University como lo tiene el Presidente Obama, a la graducacion del CUT.
Volviendo a la conferencia sobre “ ética…” y responsabilidad social, la mayoría de los pedagogos recomiendan que se usen ejemplos positivos y reesfuerzos positivos . En vez de Lumumba se podría haber seleccionado a alguien de la lista de los premios Nobel. Quizá del Nobel de la Paz que otorga anualmente el parlamento noruego. Las personas seleccionadas logran ese reconocimiento por sus meritos principalmente sociales. Hay personajes que bien vale la pena imitar y usar como inspiradores y motivantes a la juventud de la UABC de Tecate. Pocos de ellos saben el proceso del premio Nobel y menos el de la Paz. Se acaba de anunciar el premio Nobel de medicina del 2009 que en conjunto va a tres personas y es de destacar que dos de ellas son mujeres. ¡Es la primera vez que esto ocurre!
La expositora del tema “ ética…” es muy elocuente y con un postgrado de Chile. Ella da clases en la prisión. Quizá en una prisión hablar de una Madre Teresa no logra avivar el interés de las mujeres que mayormente están condenadas por delitos de drogas. Pero el recalcar que los traficantes de droga se hacen muy ricos no es el mejor aliciente para los estudiantes de la UABC. Habría sido una buena oportunidad de abordar en detalle la interdependencia de que buena ética refuerza los buenos valores y los valores a su vez no nos dejan caer en la tentación que ofrece muy frecuentemente la corrupción. Pregunta: ¿Porque no se elaboró la sencilla lógica que si alguna acción nos causa aprensión por ser quizás mala, casi seguro que es una acción mala? Muchos jóvenes, especialmente los estudiantes de la UABC aun tienen el sentido de lo justo y de lo injusto. Se deberían utilizar conferencias de ética para reforzar el bien y reconocer el mal que causa el actuar mal. Que lastima que parte del 28 de septiembre de 2009 se desperdicio no dando un mensaje muy positivo. Consolémonos que casi siempre hay una próxima vez, sino somos decapitado, como pasa demasiadas veces en Tijuana.
En un simposio académico no se deberían enfatizar diversiones baratas que ciertamente entusiasmaron a muchos estudiantes, como fue la puntuación en el concurso de preguntas de educación general. ¿ Cuantos bits tiene un Byte? 8. ¿ Porque no se uso el formato de concurso sobre temas relevantes en Tecate o en la universidad o en las materias que cursan en sus estudios? Ejemplos: no se apoya al Museo Digital, se saco al club de Mecatrónica del recinto de la universidad, la mala re-regulación del trafico vehicular en el centro de Tecate, la inseguridad y posibles mejoras, etc.
Como resalto el exponente de Evaluación de Proyectos, la juventud tiene ideas muy innovadoras y ciertamente muy usable. Pero el ejemplo que el expositor usó refleja su poco conocimiento del funcionamiento de las grandes empresas. Destaco que un joven de una universidad de un pequeño poblado del sur de Mexico desarrollo una mezcla para una nueva bebida y menciono que se discutía con Coca Cola vender esta formulación por US$ 10 millones. Coca Cola nunca pagara por una simple formulación de bebida nuevas esa cantidad de dinero, ya que tienen varios laboratorios en los que elaboran nuevas mezclas. Si, pagara los 10 millones para una ruta adicional de distribución en la que sus productos no dominan. Esas rutas existen, pero son muy difíciles de encontrar. Coca Cola esta en mas 200 países, y las Naciones Unidas solo tienen 192 miembros. ( Con la admisión de Montenegro el 28 de junio de 2006, son 192 Estados Miembros de las Naciones Unidas.) Coca Cola ya tiene mas de 50 diferentes marcas – lo que expertos consideran despilfarro de recursos, ya que ninguna empresa puede ser excelente en tantos campos. Después de la crisis mundial que aun se vive, solo destacara el producto de excelencia. Es evidente que entusiasmar a la juventud a buscar mezclas de bebida para la Coca Cola no es muy útil. Si hay muchas cosas para inventar, pero mientras México NO implemente con vigor su legislación sobre la protección de la propiedad intelectual, la juventud no tendrá fácil salida con sus ideas innovadoras ya que se los piratearan a la primera oportunidad.
Que el 2º simposio de ingeniería y de negocios en la UABC de Tecate considere alguno de estos puntos. Serian para ensalzar su prestigio y posición. También resultaría en mayores beneficios al estudiantado.
Espero sus comentarios…
jueves, 5 de febrero de 2009
Gestión Empresarial de la Empresa
Control Feb 09
http://gestion-empresa-7.blogspot.com/
PROGRAMA DE MAESTRIA EN CIENCIAS E INGENIERÍA
Nombre de la asignatura GESTION EMPRESARIAL Horas teoría 3
ANTES DE CONTROLAR SE NECESITA CONOCER EL OBJETO O PROCESO A CONTROLAR.
POR ELLO EL lo 1º será estudiar:
4.1- El sistema Empresarial
La gestión Empresarial de la Empresa
4.1- El sistema Empresarial sub temas:
4.1.1 Administración
4.1.2. producción
4.1.3. Mercadotecnia
4.1.4. Recursos Humanos.
4.1.5 Finanzas.
Text:
Gaspar, Bierman, Kolar, Hise et alt
Introduction to business
Tareas:
1º cada participante de la clase en orden alfabético presenta un resumen de un capitulo- secuencia de libro. Y expondrá: a- pasajes que no están claros- opinión de ese participante, b- como aplica el material a México y a Tecate. c- porque ese material NO aplica a México ni a Tecate. d- resumen de lo que se aprendió del tópico.
2º cada participante de la clase en orden alfabético presenta su propio resumen de un capitulo- secuencia de libro. Y expondrá: a- pasajes que no están claros- opinión de de ese participante, b- como aplica el material a México y a Tecate. c- porque ese material NO aplica a México ni a Tecate. d- resumen de lo que se aprendió del tópico. Esperamos que no se repitan las opiniones ya expresadas por un compañero. ¡ Generen nuevas ideas y contribuyan al conocimiento !
El vendedor con 5 ***** es mas confiable y atiende mejor.
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Lecturas para Gerencia de Empresas:
Peter F. Drucker La Gerencia de Empresas (Paperback - Jun 1999).
Peter F. Drucker La gerencia efectiva (Paperback - Feb 19, 2002)
Libros a leer en 2009!
En bibliotecas en San Diego se pueden prestar estos libros, gratis.
Bhide’, Amarath
The Venturesome Economy: How Innovation Sustains Prosperity in a More Connected World.
Princeton:
Fisman, Raymond, Edward Miguel
Economic Gangsters.
Princeton:
http://gestion-empresa.blogspot.com/
miércoles 12 de marzo de 2008
Estructura de los trabajos
Elaborado por el Comité de Investigación y Postrado de la FCA., Tijuana B. C.
ANEXO 1
DESCRIPCIÓN DE LAS LÍNEAS DE INVESTIGACIÓN
Nombre del CA
ANEXO 2
REGLAMENTO GENERAL DE ESTUDIOS DE POSGRADO.
ANEXO 3
RESPONSABILIDAD Y FUNCIONES DEL DIRECTOR DE TESIS.
Proyecto - Es esencial ser Etico - el precio que se paga al no serlo...
Paga el ser Ético - el precio que paga México por su corrupción.
http://gestion-empresa.blogspot.com/
Tarea a entregar por escrito y en disco usando M S Word después del cap. 14 – Finanzas.
Análisis de la industria de
1- Cemento
2- Televisión / Medios
3- Vidrio- envases y parabrisas.
4- Corredores de Bolsa
Tiene que comparase 4 empresas del miso ramo: Mexicana, Americana, Europea y Asiática. Seleccionen las 4 compañías que coticen en una bolsa de valores, sino será difícil obtener datos. Traten que tengan tamaño similar para que sus comparaciones entre las entidades sean validas. Relevante señalar las diferencias en los controles, finanzas, nepotismo, etc.
Tarea a entregar por escrito y en disco usando M S Word en la penúltima clase ( 1º semana de Mayo 2009 es el 5 de Mayo! ) :
Un trabajo individual sobre :
1- Centros para retiro de personas grandes: un centro que se construye en una cuadra urbana de 700 m cuadrados y una en 10 hectáreas – sus diferentes rentabilidades.
2- Construyendo según ‘ Green Building Code’ con la maxima designacion ‘Platino’ cuanto mas cuesta una vivienda de 200 metros cuadrados en Tecate contra la usual. ¿Es rentable ser verde ?
3- Energías renovables para Tecate: cuales son rentables en 2009 según tarifa y reglamento de CF E.
4- Cuantifique el costo adicional de establecerse en México- lugar superior al 60ª según Transparencia Internacional a un país no superior al 12º en el mismo listado.
5- ¿Es rentable la educación de postgrado si se paga con sus propios medios el estudio en una universidad de EE UU? Universidad elite, Universidad privada, Universidad estatal. Usar el ranking Chino de las 100 mejores Universidades.
Información http://gestion-empresa-7.blogspot.com/
correo para esta clase jmv7@prodigy.net.
| ’09 Jan 3 |
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jueves, 29 de enero de 2009
Slim NY TIMES
Carlos Slim, who holds 6.4% stake now, is in talks to make big investment in New York Times Co.
January 18, 2009: 8:53 AM ET
· Times, Mexican billionaire in talks
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- The New York Times Co. is in talks to raise hundreds of millions of dollars from Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, a source told Reuters Saturday, a move that would give the ailing newspaper publisher a critical cash infusion to pay its debt.
An investment by Slim, the world's second-richest man according to Forbes magazine, could also be a vote of confidence in the Ochs-Sulzberger family, whose control of the Times for more than a century has been threatened by changes shaking the foundations of the
The Times, which owns its namesake newspaper and The Boston Globe as well as other papers in the
According to the source, the Times might give Slim, who already owns a 6.4% stake in the company, preferred stock with no voting rights but with an annual dividend.
The Times is planning a special board meeting next week about the investment, the source said. The news was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. A New York Times spokeswoman declined to comment.
The money could help the Times pay off $400 million in debt in a credit facility that will retire in May.
Newspaper publishers from McClatchy Co. to Tribune Co have carried debt on their books, but that did not become an issue until ad revenue started to fall as and profit margins began eroding. This was due in part to a fall in circulation as more people turned to the Internet for free news.
The ad decline has been exacerbated by the financial crisis. Now, papers in cities like
The Times's shares have plummeted 70% from their 12-month high of $21.14 in April 2008 to $6.41 on Friday. Seven years ago, the shares were trading above $50.
Slim's stake in the Times was worth about $128 million in September 2008. Since then, its value has shrunk to about $58 million. At the time, Slim described his investment in the Times as financial rather than strategic.
Slim, 68, became one of the world's richest men by placing heavy bets on hard-hit companies. Last year, he increased his stake in
His Inbursa brokerage in
Selling assets
Many media observers say the well-respected Times will survive as many other papers fail. Nevertheless, the company has been forced to think about selling off properties to bolster its cash position, such as its 17.5% stake in the holding company of the Boston Red Sox baseball team. It has received at least one offer for the Globe, sources have said.
The ultimate question is how long the Ochs-Sulzberger family will stay in the business. Multiple media reports and commentators have questioned if the family has the stomach to stay involved despite the plunging value of their stock. So far, however, Times Chairman and Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. has said that the company is not for sale.
The Times also is facing a renewed threat from The Wall Street Journal, owned by News Corp, whose chief executive, Rupert Murdoch, has made no secret of his intent to knock the Times off its perch as the top national
Times executives saw Slim's initial investment as a good development, a source familiar with the matter at the Times told Reuters at the time.
It came several months after hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners bought about 20% of the Times's shares, demanded that the company sell non-core assets to boost its stock price and got two of its representatives elected to the board -- initially over the Times's objections.
Slim's business empire includes Latin American cell phone giant American Movil, former state-owned Mexican telephone company Telefonos de Mexico, financial conglomerate Grupo Financiero Inbursa, department stores, restaurants and manufacturers of cigarettes, floor tiles and car parts.
25 most powerful people in business
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