THE New York Times Co is in talks with Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim on investing in the publishing company to help it through financial problems, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.

One option being discussed is a preferred stock issue, similar to a loan, under which Slim would have no voting rights. The talks are continuing and may not succeed, the newspaper said.

The third-largest United States newspaper publisher is cutting jobs, freezing pay increases of non-union workers, reducing dividends and selling front-page advertising space to raise cash to help repay a US$400-million credit line in May.

The New York Times lost 13 percent of its market value this year, extending the 58 percent decline in 2008, as it faces falling advertising sales and shrinking newspaper circulation, Bloomberg News reported.

Shares of the New York Times increased 3.7 percent to close at US$6.41 in New York on Friday.