NY Times faces cash crunch

This would be very bad news, if it weren't for the possibility that Paul Krugman, Maureen Dowd and David Brooks could soon be unemployed:

[New York Times Co.] must deliver $400 million to lenders in May of 2009, six months from now. The company has only $46 million of cash on hand, and its operations will likely begin consuming this meager balance this quarter or next. The company has been shut out of the commercial paper market, but has a $366 million short-term credit line remaining that it entered into several years ago, when the industry was strong.

Maybe Murdoch will make an offer.