I'm somewhat surprised that no one else has posted a diary about this yet, but I am somewhat concerned about billionaire Maurice Greenberg's reported bid to take over the New York Times. As I am sure most of you know, until he tangled with Eliot Spitzer, Greenberg was chairman and CEO of AIG, a position he held from 1968 to 2005.
This article in Editor & Publisher details Greenberg's longstanding Republican loyalties and explores his possible motivations in attempting to take over the NYT: Who is Maurice Greenberg, Man Behind Bid for 'NY Times'
The story speculates on the motive behind the octogenarian Greenberg's bid:
Some analysts have suggested that Greenberg may be driven partly by revenge in the Times takeover bid. The paper has been critical of him in the ongoing legal dispute with the state attorney general, now Governor-elect, Eliot Spitzer. A Times article last December referrred to the "man-made disaster" at AIG, the world's largest insurance company: "Regulators had discovered accounting problems at A.I.G., and the board swiftly ousted the chairman and chief executive, Maurice R. Greenberg, who over the course of 38 years had built the insurer into a behemoth with a market capitalization of $170 billion.
Granted, I do not think the NYT is a perfect newspaper. Far from it. Nevertheless, I cannot imagine a takeover of the NYT by Greenberg would a positive development for freedom of the press.