Be Careful What You Wish For

You know, there are two ways to look at the news that Morgan Stanley is ending its siege of The New York Times Co. and selling its 7.2 percent stake in the company. One is that this takes some pressure off of the Sulzberger family, which has been feuding with Morgan Stanley Investment Management and its manager, Hassan Elmasry, for the past two years, with Emasry pushing for structural change in the Times Co. to increase shareholder value. Score one for the Sulzberger family and its control of the Times Co.

The other way to look at it is that Elmasry and Morgan Stanley finally decided that Times stock—trading at a 10-year low and one-third its value in 2002—simply is a lousy investment.

Update from the great minds dept.: Alan Mutter has further analysis under the same headline!