New York Times expands board to end proxy fight

By Kenneth Li and Robert MacMillan

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Times Co said on Monday that it will add two seats to its board of directors and give them to a group of dissident investors to avert a proxy battle.

The Times, under a deal with hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners and investment firm Firebrand Partners, will raise the number of board seats to 15 from 13.

Harbinger and Firebrand have spent more than $500 million to amass a 19 percent stake in the Times since late December, making them the company's largest public shareholder.

They had proposed four nominees to the board and threatened to take their slate directly to shareholders at the company's annual meeting on April 22, creating the possibility that all four could get elected.

"Our nominees look forward to working with the other directors and management to build and deliver value for all shareholders," Harbinger Senior Managing Director Philip Falcone said in a statement.

The new slate will include Firebrand founder Scott Galloway and James Kohlberg, chairman of private equity company Kohlberg & Co. They were two of the four nominees that Harbinger had originally proposed.

The Times agreed to the dissident group's nominees to fend off a time-consuming and costly proxy fight, according to sources familiar with the matter.

"There's always real benefit to not taking it to the kind of death match that is the annual meeting," said one of the sources.