New York Times' Shares Surged: What You Need to Know

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of newspaper and media company The New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT  ) jumped as much as 12.5% today on above-average trading volume.

So what: Mexican multibillionaire Carlos Slim has long held a large stake in The Gray Lady, but recent SEC filings show that he upped his interest from 7.5% to 8.1% with another batch of buys. Slim, who is currently the world's richest man thanks to his interests in Latin American telecoms America Movil (NYSE: AMX  ) and Telmex (NYSE: TMX  ) , clearly sees opportunity in The Times.

Now what: On the face of it, The New York Times appears headed for obsolescence in the face of onrushing Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN  ) Kindles, Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL  ) iPads, and other newfangled ways of consuming media that don't involve ink and paper. But it's not too late to join the digital era. Slim's fellow ultra-Croesus Warren Buffett also likes this sector, as shown by his commitment to The Washington Post Co. (NYSE: WPO  ) . And neither the Slim empire nor Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-B  ) was built by Luddite losers. If nothing else, these publishing stocks sure look temptingly cheap.

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