Mexico's tycoon and billionaire Carlos Slim buys 6 percent of New York Times

The print newspaper business may be struggling to compete in the digital age, but the world's second richest man sees real potential in the New York Times. Carlos Slim Helu, who made billions in the Mexican telecom industry, and his family have acquired a 6.4 percent stake of the New York Times Company (NYT). (Slim's Telmex has 90 percent of Mexico's 20 million fixed-line phones and his America Mobil is the biggest mobile phone company in Latin America.)

The Times Co. is parent of the "paper of record" as well as theBoston Globe and some other papers and is controlled by the Ochs-Sulzberger family. And it's been a rough stretch; the company's print ad revenue dropped 14 percent in the first half of the year, while its stock, NYT has dropped some 20 percent year-to date, over 30 percent over the past twelve months.

Mr. Slim has a history of buying depressed assets he can later sell at a profit, and several analysts familiar with his investments say they see the purchase of the Times Company stock in that vein.

In recent years, he has acquired stakes in several companies in the United States, where he has not been known to take a direct role. Those companies have included Saks, owner of the Saks Fifth Avenue stores; the tobacco company Altria; and the telecommunications company Global Crossing.

Mexican telecommunications tycoon and billionaire Carlos Slim has bought a 6.4 percent stake in The New York Times Co, the newspaper publisher said on Wednesday.

Slim, the world's second-richest man according to Forbes magazine, is the second prominent investor this year to buy a piece of the U.S. company, which publishes The New York Times, the Boston Globe and smaller daily newspapers.

Carlos Slim Helú may be the richest man in the world. And in Mexico, where tens of millions of people live in seemingly intractable poverty, that distinction has been drawing some heat.

Mr. Slim’s companies dominate Mexico’s telecommunications industry, and they have sold cellphones to 130 million people throughout the Americas. His businesses have a hand in just about everything: one company built Mexico’s largest offshore oil platform, another sells CDs. He has interests in retailing, banking, insurance, mining, road building and cigarettes.

Slim's telephone company Telmex, a former state-owned monopoly, has 90 percent of Mexico's 20 million fixed phone lines. His America Movil is Latin America's biggest mobile phone company with operations from Mexico to Brazil.

And before you think Carlos Slim's empire stops at the Mexican border, south-of-which 4 out of every 5 cell lines and 9 out of every 10 land lines are owned and operated by him, think again. Have you ever bought anything at Comp USA? The computer you're reading this article on, maybe? You just added to the man's not-so-slim portfolio. Designer purses? How about Saks Fifth Avenue where the slim pickins aren't so slim? Cha-ching! He owns them both. In the time it took you to read this paragraph, Carlos Slim just made $18,000.

Slim's purchase came the day that the stock fell to a new low. Saks shares have lost value for the past five years, consistently dropping at a faster pace than peers tracked by the Dow Jones U.S. Apparel Retailers Index in the last two years. In the past 12 months, Saks has plunged 53.8%, while the Index sank 31.5%. Over a five-year period, shares have shed 1.8% as the Index saw its only gain during that period, rising 22.6%.