Mason Morfit’s ValueAct Capital Partners has taken a 6.7% stake in The New York Times Co., signaling that it may engage with the board and management team over the media group’s strategy.
A Thursday regulatory filing showed that the San Francisco-based activist investor had spent around $350 million on the stake and used boilerplate language on the wide range of demands it might make.
Shares in the New York Times Co. rose 10% to $34.86 at 1.17 p.m. ET following ValueAct’s filing.
Bloomberg News reported that ValueAct believed the newspaper publisher “could improve digital sales and margins through an aggressive roll-out of its subscriber-only bundles.”
Sports news website The Athletic was recently added to the company’s all-access digital coverage after the Times’ acquisition of it closed in February.
The New York Times hasn’t faced an activist campaign since 2008, when it settled with Harbinger Capital Partners to add Scott Galloway and James Kohlberg to its board.
Later that year, Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim bought the first shares in what would become an anchor shareholder position. He began to unwind that stake in 2017.
A 33% decline in the share price from January to Wednesday’s close had put the company high up Insightia’s Vulnerability ranking.
However, the stock appears expensive relative to peers and investors were broadly supportive of the directors and the compensation package up for a vote at 2022’s annual meeting.