Debt Crisis for New York Times Hedge Fund Shareholders

Some analysts are saying that the mighty New York Times might be headed down the same path as the bankrupt Tribune Company, owner of the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times.

Hedge fund shareholders, Harbinger Capital Partners Funds ("Harbinger") and Firebrand Partners ("Firebrand") own 19% of The New York Times Company, and the outlook does not look good. NYT is approximately $1 billion in debt, the result of its move to a new building on Eighth Avenue a couple of years ago.

Harbinger Capital Partners has grown to one of the 15 largest hedge funds, by assets, in America. Firebrand Partners is an operational activist firm that invests in publicly-traded companies whose brand equity represents significant upside relative to their market capitalization.

The New York Times Company includes The New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, The Boston Globe and 15 other daily newspapers.