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Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim will provide $250 million to New York Times in return for warrants that can be converted into 15.9 million common shares at a strike price of $6.36, close to where the price was last week. The notes carry a interest rate of 14% and are due in 2015. The Sulzbergers control 19% of the company's equity and control the company through super-voting shares. If Slim exercizes the warrants he would control 18% of the company's equity. Times faces a liquidity crisis and the $250 million may not be enough for it to survive as an independent company. The New York Times borrowed heavily in the boom years and it had $1.1 billion of debt at the end of September 2008, and only $46 million in cash. Much of that debt is coming due in the next couple of years. It has a $400 million credit facility that expires in May 2009, $250 million in notes due in 2010, and a $400 million credit facility expiring in 2011. Its stock has fallen 50% already and its debt is rated "junk" by S&P....

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Spotify is in the same position as Netflix in 2011 with its margins restricted by the fact that most of the major TV content was controlled by a few companies. It broke out of this with its own TV series "House of Cards." The gross margin at Spotify is at 24.5% but it will be hard to bring it up because Spotify is dealing with a few producers of music for licensing deals, the big 3 and Merlin controlling 87% of songs streamed.

Competitor Apple Music has the deep pockets to offer music subscriptions on plans that are minimal cost in the first year. This puts pressure on Spotify with monthly subscriptions dropping to $6.55 or 5.32 euros in 2017 from 6.84 euros in 2015. This pressure on pricing from Apple Music will only grow. Spotify meanwhile has not made profit since its founding.

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Martin Peers of WSJ says he thinks the $250 million infusion from Carlos Slim may buy too little time for New York Times company, if it does not do more aggressive cost cutting and asset sales. The asset sales are going to be difficult for media business in this environment with declining ad spending. In the first 9 months of 2008 revenue fell 6.5% to $2.18 billion but production, selling general and administrative expenses fell only 1.9% to $1.99 billion, says Peers so its cost base is not shrinking fast enough. And the 14% interest for the Slim investment raises interest costs from $50 million to $74 million a year.

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Peers says Amazon's strategy is flawed and the new Kindle Fire tablet will cut into Amazon's already low margins. He points to the analysis of components going into tablets by IHS iSuppli, which found materials costs alone come up to over $262. For companies making hardware such as Samsung and Sony the tablets have to be priced higher. By pricing the Kindle Fire at $199, Amazon CEO Bezos, may be counting on the tablet boosting Amazon's retail business, the digital music, and the streaming of videos, and bookstores. Surveys show the tablet being used mainly for web surfing or email, and less for watching video or reading books. Amazon has the Kindle e-reader which is a better option for readers because of the price. And video sources include other suppliers including YouTube and Netflix. Apple still has the edge in resources- $76 billion in cash and investments in mid 2011- to support lower prices on newer versions of the iPad with more capabilities and design features. Apple with its supply chain experience may be able to obtain better costs from component suppliers than Amazon for future price reductions. Sony and Samsung also bring the manufacturing knowhow and expertise to do this, with Sony's added capabilities in designing devices. The H-P tablet experience shows how quickly a tablet can become obsolete in this market....

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Increasing regulation on Mexico's telephone monopoly of America Movil, and Telmex, part of Carlos Slim's telephone business in Mexico. Mexico's three main parties have agreed to increase regulation on the monopoly to reduce the high charges paid by Mexico's telecom users. Estimates by OECD show Mexicans paying an extra $13 billion a year from 2005 to 2009 because of the monopoly and high prices. The administration of Pena Nieto made controlling telecom and other monopolies an important part of its program. To get an idea of the extent of the monopolistic control - 70 percent of the cellphone market and 65 percent of fixed lines are controlled by companies run by Slim.  AT&T is now a competitor and is helping bring down high cellphone plan prices.

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Comcast buys the remaining 49% stake in NBCUniversal for $16.7 billion in Feb 2013. Comcast acquired a 51% interest in NBCUniversal in 2011 with the option of buying out G.E. in 3 and half to 7 year time frame. The deal was accelerated because it would have cost Comcast more if it waited longer.