The family that controls The New York Times empire has lost more than 86% percent of its fortune and may have to sell its controlling stake to get out of debt. The Ochs-Sulzberger family has
run the paper since 1896 and until this year, had been living on wealth valued as high as $425 million.
Four months ago, the family lost its biggest source of steady cash from the
company -- a 92-cent annual dividend paying nearly $8 million. The family's stock fortune also crashed this year from a high of $411.5 million four years earlier to a low in February of just $30.8
million, rendering it useless to borrow against. Carlos Slim, who recently bailed out the Times with a high-interest $250 million loan, is poised to become the biggest Times shareholder of
common stock because he's allowing his loan to be repaid with stock.
Eight family members continue to work at the company or serve on its board, bringing in total annual paychecks of $4.5
million -- currently the family's only reported source of company income -- which itself is down by nearly half in the last two years.
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