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Former New York Times publisher Arthur “Punch” Sulzberger had $41 million worth of stock in the Gray Lady when he died — and his children have already made moves to unload it.
Just a week after his death on Sept. 29 at 86, his four children went to Surrogate’s Court seeking a quick sale of the shares.
The stock to be sold is Class A common shares and not the super-voting Class B shares held exclusively by a family trust.
The Class B shares keep the Times Co. assets under the control of the Sulzberger family.
Punch’s children face estate taxes and it is not known what percentage of the shares will be sold.
The late celebrated chief had amassed a stock fortune of more than $360 million in common shares when he turned over the reins of the empire to his son, known as Pinch, in 1997.
Sulzberger Jr., the current CEO and chairman, and his siblings were named executors of their father’s estate, valued at about $70 million.
The kids are seeking a quick sale of the shares.
Times Co. shares closed up 3.7 percent yesterday, their biggest advance in two months, to $10.35, a 52-week high.
One Wall Street analyst upgraded the stock, citing increased digital revenue.
While riding high, the shares are well below the $45 level when Punch stepped down.
Three of the children have positions with the company, which could complicate the stock transactions. So they’re stepping aside to let Karen Sulzberger, a sister with no company ties, do the selling.
“The other executors, who have consented to this program, are considered affiliates of a publicly held corporation, and the estate holds a large block of that corporation’s stock,” according to a court filing.
“If all four of the executors were empowered to act there would be significant restrictions on the sale of that stock,” the filing said, adding that such a sale could lead “to possibly adverse consequences to the estate.”
The estate’s breakup could get bogged down due to the complicated stock ownership structure of the Times.
Family members own about 15 percent of the ordinary shares, but a small family trust controls 70 percent of voting power over company affairs due to their super-voting Class B shares, at least for the next several decades.
Trust rules say only family members can own Class B stock, with any transfer among family members approved by six of the eight trustees, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Meanwhile, the late publisher’s estate has other assets, including: a $ 5 million Fifth Avenue co-op; a $7 million home on Gin Lane in Southampton; $1.7 million in cash; $5 .7 million in a trust; and, $14.3 million in fixed-income securities.
There will also be donations to charities like the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s “Department of Arms and Armor,” the Fresh Air Fund, the Jewish Campus Life Fund and the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation.