After Bezos purchase, Sulzberger says N.Y. Times ‘is not for sale’
Don’t expect a surprise announcement by the Sulzberger family about selling the New York Times any time soon.
After Amazon.com billionaire Jeffrey Bezos announced he was buying the family-owned Washington Post this week, Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. said in a statement posted to the Times website Wednesday that the paper is not on the market.
“Will our family seek to sell The Times? The answer to that is no. The Times is not for sale,” he said.
The surprise Washington Post sale to Bezos marks the end of a storied ownership by the Graham family, which was closely held by the family for eight decades.
The sale’s announcement was made Monday by an emotional Donald Graham, Post chairman and chief executive, alongside his niece, Post Publisher Katharine Weymouth. Reporters and editors gathered in the Post’s auditorium gasped.
The Post sale is the third major media transaction in the past week. On Saturday, the New York Times Co. said it would sell the Boston Globe to John Henry, owner of the Boston Red Sox, for $70 million. The Times Co. has recently been focused on spinning off some of its stakes in regional papers and About.com in order to focus on its flagship paper.
Also on Saturday, digital news company IBT Media announced it would buy Newsweek, a publication that is now published solely online.
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ricardo.lopez@latimes.com
