New York Times Won't Go Way of Dow Jones

New York Times has consistently shown an unwillingness to entertain such options. The company spurned overtures from Welch, prompting a backlash from Wall Street that culminated in a publicity campaign from Morgan Stanley Investments fund manager Hassan Elmasry calling for an end to the Times' dual-share structure.

In sharp contrast to Dow Jones CEO Rick Zannino, who has been all but silent throughout Murdoch's buyout campaign, New York Times CEO Janet Robinson has been an outspoken defender of the company's corporate structure and its unwillingness to consider strategic alternatives.

"We have no intention of opening any of our doors to the action that is tearing at the heart of some of the other great journalistic institutions of our country," said Robinson last December.

At the time, she was presumably referring to last year's sale of Knight-Ridder and the efforts to sell Tribune (TRB Quote), both of which lacked a dual-class share structure and were pushed onto the auction block by disgruntled shareholders. But Robinson just as easily could have been talking now about Dow Jones, which is on the verge of becoming part of a global media conglomerate that has a long history of flouting the editorial practices of The Journal.

Steven Davidoff, a professor with Wayne State Law School, says that unlike Zannino, Robinson is free to speak out in these situations because she has the blessing of the company's board of directors. New York Times' board is effectively controlled by the Sulzbergers, since the family elects nine of the company's 13 directors.