New York Times Co

Hollywood talent agency International Creative Management will represent New York Times Co. in negotiating film and TV deals for articles it publishes. The paper forged the deal with Broder Webb Chervin Silbermann Agency, which will be formally absorbed by ICM next week. Deals were previously coordinated by the paper's legal department. According to Newspaper Guild guidelines, the company splits earnings on such deals with the journalists.

Newspaper publishers McClatchy Co., Tribune Co. and New York Times Co. reported lower first-quarter results Thursday as sluggish advertising, higher newsprint prices and other costs took their toll. Results for Sacramento-based McClatchy Co. came in well below analysts' expectations. Shares fell as low as $45.38 before closing down $1 at $47, the lowest closing price since 2002.

For New York Times Co., the timing of today's annual shareholder meeting could have been better. Investors are deciding whether to withhold proxy votes in protest of the company's strategic direction and a stock structure that clinches the Ochs-Sulzberger clan's control of the media company.

In a move long expected, Arthur Sulzberger Jr. was named chairman of New York Times Co., in addition to his post as publisher, the company said after a board meeting. Sulzberger, who became publisher of the New York Times in 1992, succeeds his father, Arthur "Punch" Sulzberger Sr., who stepped down as chairman and chief executive after a 24-year reign. Punch Sulzberger was given the title chairman emeritus and will remain on the board of directors, the company said.

Janus Capital Corp. and Fidelity Investments, two of the biggest U.S. mutual fund companies, are taking opposing views on the New York Times Co. Denver-based Janus, the best-selling fund group of recent years, was the largest buyer of Times shares in the second quarter, siding with those who say the "Gray Lady of 43rd Street" is an undervalued moneymaker. It trades at about 19 times forecast earnings, less than the Washington Post Co.'s 29 times and Tribune Co.'s 27.

Eleven years after a suit was filed, a Los Angeles Superior Court jury has awarded $2.25 million in damages to a Beverly Hills businessman who said he was defamed by articles in the Santa Barbara News-Press. The jury found the stories falsely linked Leonard M. Ross to a massive investor fraud investigation in the 1970s, said Anthony Glassman, Ross' attorney. The damages were imposed on the News-Press and the New York Times Co.