Harbinger's Bet On New York Times Co. Stock Paying Off Big

By: Mark Fitzgerald One big beneficiary of the spike in New York Times Co. stock is Harbinger Capital Partners, which throughout August made a series of big bets that the shares would rise.

In 11 separate equity swaps with an undisclosed third party, Harbinger locked in various prices for hundreds of thousands of "notional" shares of Times stock (NYSE: NYT). No actual stock was purchased or traded, but Harbinger and the othe party agreed that if the stock price rose, the other party would pay Harbinger the amount of the increase. If the stock declined, Harbinger would pay the amount of the decrease.

Times stock has gained nearly $2 a share since Mexican billionaire Slim disclosed he had purchased more than 9 million shares, or 6.4% of shares outstanding.

According to E&P's calculations, as of Friday morning, Harbinger is up $4.6 million on its equity swaps.

See more at E&P's "Fitz & Jen Give You the Business" blog, here.