Idea floated for NY Mayor Mike Bloomberg to buy the NY Times Co.

"(The NY) Times Co. recently gave board seats to dissident shareholders who want the company to sell off non-core assets, including the (Boston) Globe and a minority stake

• in the Boston Red Sox." (Boston Herald, 4/22/08).

• Newsweek's latest issue reported that "friends" are urging billionaire NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg to buy the Times, take it private, and thereby rid the Times' family of its financial, editorial, and baseball pressures.

Although Bloomberg has since denied interest in the idea, it solves all the Times' problems:

• Bloomberg is most concerned with social issues, as is the Times. The former favors matters surrounding trans-fat legislation, smoking, and the like. Ideologically, it's a match.

Bloomberg is a native of Medford, Massachusetts (and still has his accent). That might possibly be a match for Red Sox interest. He has an MBA from Harvard.

• From the NY Times, 10/8/03, "Mayor Trades his Sox for the Local Pinstripes":

"He made his first big fielding error two years ago (2001) during the mayoral campaign, when he bobbled a tricky one-hopper about whether he liked the Yankees or the Mets.

• ''I grew up in Boston,'' Michael R. Bloomberg replied, as his gleeful opponents ran for extra bases.

Then came the easy pop-up that bounced out of his glove -- his mispronunciation of the name of the Yankees' manager, Joe Torre, at a New York University graduation ceremony in May. The tabloids blamed ''the Boston-bred'' mayor's accent, while noting, suspiciously, that he ''grew up a Red Sox fan.''"

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon