The New York Times Co. cut dividends from 26¢ a share to 3¢. That means the major shareholders are going to see a 75% loss in their money pool, and a $25 million cut for the Sulzberger-Och family, who publishes the paper.

Said Company Chairman Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., "This was a difficult but necessary decision that will provide us with greater financial flexibility in these uncertain economic times."

Arthur Gregg Sulzberger (junior of Jr.) must be so mad that he left The Oregonian to come deal with this shit.

Thanks, dad.

Bad news, New York Times! AdAge's Simon Dumenco thinks you're almost as passé as polyester shirts, "ironic" trucker hats and the impossibly un-hip buzzword, "fabulous!"

That said, only time will tell whether the Sulzbergers (particularly Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Jr.) will start taking financial advice from a persnickety/omnipresent media columnist instead of his journalist wife and/or high-priced accountant.

Note to the Sulzberger family: It's probably time to start trying to line up a buyer now that shares of the New York Times Co. stock have hit a 52-week low…for the second day of a row. In fact, we've even got a few suggestions in mind. How's about, oh we don't know, ANYONE ONE BUT RUPERT MURDOCH? [AP]

"The New York Times is poised to stop charging readers for online access to its Op-Ed columnists and other content," reports the New York Post. "After much internal debate, Times executives - including publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. - made the decision to end the subscription-only TimesSelect service but have yet to make an official announcement."

Which is great news for the general public, less great for the NYT, and even worse for the 221,000 or so of us who foolishly bought into the Times' elitist crap and shelled out $49.95 a year for the privilege of reading about MoDo's personal life, or lack thereof.

The only thing that doesn't suck?

The unnecessarily tall picture of a half-smiling Arthur Sulzbeger, Jr., presumably selected by intrepid Post reporter, Holly M. Sanders, and creatively captioned: "Sulzberger. Internal angst."

And here the Times thought we had to pay to see great journalism.

• Alec Baldwin tries, fails, to use that leaked voicemail rant as an excuse to quit 30 Rock.

• 14 new Diana books are due out this year. The books are said to feature never-before-heard details about the late princess, such as her shoe size and her favorite brand of dental floss.

• Forbes tries to figure out exactly how Teen Vogue made Life, Child, Premiere and Elle Girl "disappear."

• "Asking [the Sulzberger clan] to willingly give up their control of the Times is akin to telling the Windsors to put Buckingham Palace up for sale."

• Transsexual sportswriter takes hiatus from LAT to become a woman, mentally prepares himself for the inevitable "you throw like a girl" jokes.

• Bidders vie for editorial control of Dennis Publishing's boobie magazines.

"There's no possibility of it changing," says Quadrangle Group managing principal Steven Rattner, otherwise known as "former Times reporter, billionaire media financier, and Arthur Sulzberger's best friend."

• Retired NFL star Tiki Barber to join NBC's Today Show; maybe this will help them "tackle" the male thirty-something market.

• In sad news for publishing moguls (and Anna Wintour's assistants) magazine circulations were way down in the second half of 2006.

• With the help of Walter Pincus, Tim Russert and Bob Woodward's testimonies, the Scooter Libby trial is now expected to replace Michael's as the newest hotspot for media elite.

• MTV job cuts have decimated its five business units. Still intact: those idiots on The Real World.

• After thinking about it for a week or two, Times' publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. has decided he actually does care whether or not the NYT is still in print five years from now.

• Ron Goldman's family continues to fight for the $40 million O.J. still owes them for "that whole murder thing." Related: USA Today can't write a lied to save its life.

• Tim Russert, host of NBC's Meet The Press, criticized for being a "boring witness" at the Scooter Libby trial.

• Well known rich guy, Warren Buffet, rumored to be shopping around at the Grey Lady.

• Meanwhile, Arthur Sulzberger pretends not to be worried about the future of NYT's print edition.

• Barry Diller to YouTube: You're going down.

• John Edwards fires his controversial, liberal bloggers for being "too controversial, liberal."

• Even photographers have to contend with that "imitation is the highest form of flattery" crap.

• Devil Wears Prada truck v MUD Truck? How very NY v LA. [FBNY]

• First rule of being a celebrity? Check the girl's ID before you take her pants off. Nick Nolte totally should've implied that rule before handing out the alcohol. [NBC]

• A scoop is just a scoop? Somebody needs to give Arthur Sulzberger Jr. a scoop to build a dream on. [Beet]

• The wonderful irony of Williamsburg, brought to you via Internet sitcom. [Curbed]

• Chris Rovzar and Jo Piazza officially leave Rush & Molloy to join the features page at the Daily News. Until Rush & Molloy leave, and then Rovzar & Piazza will be back … or maybe they'll just call it Chris & Jo … [Gawker]

• People love Anderson Cooper, but they don't watch him — except when Angelina Jolie is on. [USAT]

• Advertisers only let gay people see other gay people get drunk. [Queerty]

Someone spotted Arthur Sulzberger Jr. on the Upper West Side and actually recognized him? And not just recognized, but actually found the sighting gossipy enough to send to Page Six? Well, we guess, if nothing else, it gives us a chance to laugh at the New York Times publisher.

TIMES publisher Arthur "Pinch" Sulzberger Jr. exiting the Reebok Gym on Columbus Avenue wearing a Jefferson Airplane T-shirt with the words "Get high!" on the back

Jefferson Airplane? God, no wonder this newspaper picks up on trends like six months after the rest of the world. Jefferson Airplane isn't even hip vintage yet. (Yes, we are being pretentious … this is New York.)

SIGHTINGS [Page Six]

The New York Times is in panic mode. Courtesy those snooping tabloids, Arthur Sulzberger Jr. and the fam are getting crap for the way they're running the Grey Lady, thanks to the convenient power system currrently in place where the publicly traded paper is still run like a family-owned operation. What to do when you're getting unwanted flack? Hire a PR crisis team, natch. They approached Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher — but unfortunately, Morgan Stanley (the leader in the fight for reorganization) already has 'em on retainer.

Sagging stock price, dipping circulation, accustations over unwarranted increases in executive compenstation. If this gets any sexier, we just might find reason to ignore the Post's Paid $ix scandal.

Which, we should note, sounds like what the Post would prefer. With the Times going light on Ron Burkle, it's only natural for the Post-Its to launch an attack on West 43rd Street.

TIMES IN CRISIS [Janet Whitman, NYP]

• Journalists should just act like Al-Qaeda members. It makes sense, since according to our administration they already do. [Slate]

• Apparently you have to bash the president and call him impotent to be able to be the press secretary. Oh yeah, it doesn't hurt to be down with Fox News. [Think Progress]

• Arthur "Pinch" Sulzberger gets a haircut in an attempt to fool people into thinking he knows what the fuck he's doing. The Times is just so good at insulting New Yorkers' intelligence. [NYO]

• The New York Times' Bill Keller seems to think the current administration doesn't like journalists. What would ever give anyone that impression? [National Journal]

• The next walk of shame is that of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia's editor Rebecca Thuss. Her resignation went conveniently unmentioned in Blueprint's PR campaign. [Memo Pad]

Over at the Boston Globe, things are getting heated in the newsroom. In preparation for a visit by head hancho, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., staffers are protesting.

All 12,000 Union members were given t-shirts to show their distaste with the possibilities of job cuts at the paper, and while this all may sound very University of Berkeley, the newsers feel that have legit reason to be worried. The latest numbers on the New York Times (proud papa of the Globe) don't look so good.

Those figures have fueled speculation that Sulzberger might be in town to discuss further cuts at the Globe. The broadsheet cut 130 employees last year, mostly through buyouts.

Of course, while everyone in Boston is writhing, Times staffers are surely raising an eyebrow over the latest numbers as well.

Because though employees fear they will lose their jobs, and the NYT is losing money faster than Nicole Richie lost 100 pounds, good Ol' Pinch (along with Times CEO Janet Robinson) are pulling in the big bucks from their doubling and tripling stock options.

Of course it's all explained in money mumbo jumbo terms, but we can't help but have that familiar corporate feeling creep up. If only it were Christmas time, it would feel like holidays with Time Inc. all over again. Minus the "please don't fire us" tees.

Globe feels the pinch: With boss in town, union worries [Jesse Noys, Boston Hearald]
TROUBLING TIMES [Keith Kelly, New York Post]

• Why does Ashley Olsen constantly insist that she's not a role model? [Best Week Ever]

• Donald Trump is not afraid to express his special love for his daughter. So gross. [B&C]

• Reality TV shocker — the Bachelors didn't make it. Again. Tune in for next season when a couple people get engaged and then break up two months later. [AP]

• Arthur Sulzberger Jr. redefines the name "Pinch," as he proves his low salary of $800,000 to the starving reporters at the Observer. [NYO]

• While on tour, Mary J. Blige demands a new (as in previously un-sat-on) toilet seat for her precious tush. [TSG]

By the time we came across news of Arthur Sulzberger Jr.'s financial dealings last week, we were already in Oscar mode. That is, we were sitting alone in front of the television with a just-opened bottle of cheap bubbly and General Tso's chicken en route. But it's still an important bit of news, so we're going to play it up today.

The New York Times Co. paid Chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. a salary and bonus of $1.6 million for 2005.

The New York-based media company also said he received options on 150,000 shares and got a grant of restricted stock units valued at $817,500.

Those figures compared with a salary and bonus of $1.9 million the previous year, with grants of 59,000 options and restricted stock valued at $433,840, the company said Friday in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In case your math skills resemble an Enron accountant's, that's $2,417,500 this year, compared to 2004's $2,333,840. That's a difference of $83,660 for a period that saw overall NYT ciruclation increase by 2,061, which means your subscription to the paper is padding Pinch's coffers by just over 40 bucks. Congratulations!

NY Times chairman gets 2005 salary, bonus of $1.6 million [Dow Jones/AP]
Circulation Data [NYT]

The lure of Angelina Jolie can be a strong one, especially for guys like Arthur Sulzberger Jr. The New York Times publisher has finally come around to accepting an invite to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Maybe Jim Kelly gave him the heads up on Angelina — though Pinch may have missed his chance at chatting up the vixen. (We doubt she's flying solo this year.)

Buddies Sulzberger and Kelly will be address the forum, speaking on “Today’s News — Too Much of a Good Thing?” The purpose of the media start studded panel is "to address the erosion of public trust in establishment news organizations."

So odd, because we really can't think of any reasons why the public doesn't believe in the news media. Are celebrities that much more relevant than the NYT?

Off The Record [Gabriel Sherman, NYO]

The all-out brawl in Times Sq. is getting bloodier by the day. With Vanity Fair and The New Yorker drawing lines in the tourist-run streets of midtown, the Condes stop at nothing in their take down of Arthur Sulzberger Jr. and the New York Times.

It started with Seth Mnookin's Vanity Fair article, "Unreliable Sources", which, if you have an hour or so to read, is the only piece has come close to actually detangling all of this Judith Miller, Scooter Libby, Valerie Plame stuff. We've pulled the Pinch lines, plus rebuttle, after the jump:

CONTINUED »

• Rarely does the yearbook editor play lacross - when writerly types 'fight', the brawls are full proverbial punches. [R&M]

• Feminist journos contemplate: What Would Maureen Do? [The Cleveland Plain Dealer]

• Another reason we will never move to D.C.: the overwhelming fear of being trapped in a subway - with nothing to read but the Washington Post. [E&P]

• The New York Times seriously thinks it is Hollywood's fault that everyone hates them. [NYT]

• Atlanta Peach, a new magazine for rich southern folk, insists it's not trying to be Hamptons. As if. [WWD]

Who else to cover the Judith Miller scandal than New York Times barracuda Seth Mnookin. (Yes, the same Seth Mnookin we've been accused of making to "eat a big one.")

In between discovering Arthur Sulzberger Jr. refused to let his fact finding committee talk to former NYT president Russell Lewis ("Because I don't know what the f—he's going to tell you"), Mnookin takes a gander at how the journo jigsaw puzzle was pieced together.

Mnookin describes step-by-step how the reporters, including Don Van Natta, Clifford Levy, Adam Liptak and Janny Scott, were picked to write that October piece and how Miller often failed to cooperate fully with them. Miller allegedly refused to talk to Scott because she had not bothered to write to her in jail. She complained about Adam Liptak's coverage of her release from jail.

The lesson learned: If you want interview privileges post-prison with Lil' Kim, you better send her some damn care packages. Meanwhile, when the Dec. 13 issue hits newsstands, we'll also be treated to the PG version of the X-rated details.

Elsewhere, Mnookin pulls no punches in stating that over the years Miller "had built a reputation for sleeping with her sources," had dated one of Sulzberger's best friends, Steve Ratner, "and had even, for a time, shared a vacation home with Sulzberger," whatever that means.

A scaled-to-size replica of Scooter Libby's wang would make an excellent sidebar.

'Vanity Fair' Offers Fresh Details on Judith Miller Saga [E&P]

• Donald Trump, not content with having a reality show and a magazine tout his ego, now wants to get into TV shopping. Prepare for lots of gold chyrons. [WSJ]

• Tonight, you might actually have an excuse to watch Donny Deutsch's CNBC show. He's announcing I Want Media's Media Person of the Year, a feat that could bring total viewership up to 20, maybe 24 people. [I Want Media]

• Thanks to Judith Miller, is Arthur Sulzberger Jr. the new Howell Raines? Leave it to Seth Mnookin to overanalyze. [Lowdown]

• The U.S. military admits to paying for editorial in Iraqi newspapers, and suddenly Armstrong Williams doesn't look so bad. [NYT]

• Richard Branson is taking on Rupert Murdoch, while Rupert Murdoch is taking on Craig Newmark. [Daily Telegraph]

• Lewis Lapham has been hanging around Harper's only to, ahem, harp on President Bush. [NY Mag]

• For four seconds, you too can be Time's Person of the Year. [Page Six]