Lost in the overall cratering in the stock market yesterday in reaction to Tim Geithner's awful "soiled the bed" TARP II presentation yesterday -- New York Times Company stock closed at $4.23. As of 3:30 PM today, the stock was up 12 cents.
Yesterday's close is the stock's lowest point since the company went public in July 1986 (down over 50% in real terms):
At yesterday's close, the company was worth just over $600 million, down from over $800 million less than three months ago.
That's probably less than the value of its stake in the Boston Red Sox (perhaps $150 million) and its Manhattan headquarters building (Business Week estimated it was worth $750 million after taxes in July of last year; even with a horrid real estate market, there's little chance it's worth less than $500 million).
This means that the Times Company would have to pay someone to take the Times, the Boston Media Group (including the Boston Globe), and About.com off its hands.
We're supposed to believe that the Times's non-stop Bush-bashing that begin in earnest in mid-2002 as that administration made its case for invading Iraq "just so happened" to coincide with the stock's fall from its all-time high to its current all-time low, and had no actual influence on the stock's dive:
We're also supposed to believe that the stock's loss of over 75% of it value since mid-September 2008 only relates to economic conditions, and can't possibly have anything to do with its over-the-top Barack Obama cheerleading, cover-ups, and apologetics.
Uh huh.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
