The Grey Lady may have found a white knight, or if not that, then at least a wealthy man who can keep her (for a while) in the fashion to which she has become accustomed. It is none other than Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim:

Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim acquired a 6.4 percent stake in New York Times Co., citing the newspaper publisher's ``attractive value'' following a 20 percent drop in the stock this year. The shares rose the most since 1993. The purchase makes Slim the third-biggest shareholder in New York Times outside of the company's controlling Sulzberger family. Slim and a family trust owned 9.1 million shares of New York Times as of Sept. 4, according to a regulatory filing yesterday. They hadn't previously reported a stake in the company, the third-largest U.S. newspaper publisher. The stake is passive, according to the filing. Slim may be buying the shares in a bet that a third party may acquire New York Times, said Hal Vogel, a New York media analyst. The company's largest investor, Harbinger Capital Partners, mounted a proxy fight this year for seats on the board, asset sales and more Internet investment. ``Maybe he's just buying what he thinks is part of a bargain,'' Vogel said in an interview. ``He might be playing it for someone else to take it out.''

"He might be playing it for someone else to take it out." Perhaps he's no knight in shining armor, but rather the Real Slim Shady.