MediaFile

“Am I bugging you? I don’t mean to bug ya .” In Hassan Elmasry’s case, he means it literally. The Morgan Stanley fund manager who made his name in the past two years for urging The New York Times to give equal rights to all its shareholders has given up the fight .

A source close to Elmasry told us on Wednesday that he is dumping his 10 million-plus shares, having decided that the Sulzberger family won’t listen to reason: “Basically, he lost patience with the situation and was increasingly frustrated by the board and management, and thought there were better long-term investments,” the source said.

Elmasry had argued that the Times should get rid of its share structure that gives the Sulzbergers more control of the family business. He also wanted management to take more action to improve the Times’s blah performance during the past few years and split the role of chairman of the company and publisher of the paper — a role now held by Arthur Sulzberger Jr .

The consensus from the people we spoke to about this boiled down to finding serenity in knowing the difference between things you can control and things you can’t. And when the company you invest in is controlled by the family that has guided it for more than 100 years and shows no signs of inner dissent? Get out.

Mike Simonton of Fitch Ratings: There’s a very limited catalyst for growth in the newspaper companies, and there’s also limited control that the class A shareholders have in wielding some control.

John Morton, independent newspaper analyst: The family has made very clear all along that there was no chance that there was ever going to be any change in the stock structure. … The reason for this is the family wanting to protect the journalistic traditions of the New York Times and its other properties.

Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism: It accomplished something in terms of sending a message even if his bid failed. … think it’s that you’ve got to be attentive to institutional investors, that as the head of a company and the steward, one of the best ways to maintain your independence is be attentive and unfailingly polite to everyone. That there’s a certain humility that accompanies the power of running these corporations and that’s a useful thing for CEOs to be reminded of.(Photo: Reuters)