Real estate billionaire Donald Trump says he has looked at purchasing The New York Times, but that it would be a difficult deal.
"I think a lot of people are hoping it's true” that he’d buy it, Trump tells Fox Business Network. “I've looked at the numbers. Their numbers are amazingly bad. They have a tremendous unfunded liability. I guess it's over $1 billion.”
The company also has a dual-class share structure, “which makes it very tough," Trump says.
Editor's Note: Billionaires Dump Stocks. Prepare for the Unthinkable.
He says it would be quite interesting to have The Times’ liberal economic columnist Paul Krugman working under him. “That would be really a lot of fun. He might not be reporting for very long," Trump says.
Trump is not the only billionaire who has expressed interest in buying the Times. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who owns his own media empire, has been rumored as a potential purchaser if the Sulzbergers ever sell.
Some media observers have suggested the Times might need a white knight in the future.
Last October, the company reported an 85 percent decline in net earnings for the third quarter on a continued fall in advertising. The Times has resorted to staff layoffs and buyouts to help its finances.
Meanwhile, Trump is distressed over the 0.1 percent decline in U.S. fourth-quarter GDP announced Wednesday. “We can grow out of all of this . . . if we had an economy that was really churning,” Trump says. “But yesterday's number was terrible."
He's not alone. And while many economists say the decline isn’t as bad as it looks, financial commentator Robert Wiedemer, best-selling author of "Aftershock," says the number is actually worse than it looks.
That’s because the government only adjusts GDP numbers by an annual inflation rate of 0.6 percent, even though the Consumer Price Index rose 1.7 percent last year, he tells Newsmax TV in an exclusive interview. And given the slim magnitude of GDP change, the inflation number makes a big difference.
“I think this number could actually be significantly worse than what the government is saying,” Wiedemer noted. While government spending, particularly defense, was blamed for much of the slip, Wiedemer says it’s really just the vagaries of how the government measures its spending.
As always, Trump is upset with China’s trade practices. “It's very tough when China's taking our business.” We buy Chinese products, while they manipulate their currency, Trump says.
“They make it very tough if not impossible for U.S. companies to compete. . . . It's very hard to sort of get this country going if people are forced to go to China to buy products."
Trump doesn’t understand why President Barack Obama won’t take a stronger stance on China. And he doesn’t understand why the president won’t promote more energy production.
“Why doesn't he allow us to drill? Why doesn't he allow us to grab all of that energy” that we unexpectedly found through new technology, Trump says.
Editor's Note: Billionaires Dump Stocks. Prepare for the Unthinkable.