Off the Wires

The departure of New York Times Co. (NYT) Chief Executive Officer Janet Robinson last month leaves the company with a leadership vacuum amid falling revenue, profit squeezed by pension costs and pressure from family members to restore a dividend once worth more than $20 million a year.

Robinson, 61, was pushed out by Chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. and his cousin Michael Golden, said a person familiar with the situation. Golden, who is chief operating officer, just lost part of his responsibilities when the company sold the regional newspaper division he’d run and will take on new duties, said the person, who wouldn’t be named because the matter is private.

More here: 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-27/new-york-times-co-faces-leadership-vacuum.html

The Obama administration will announce this afternoon it is rejecting a Canadian firm’s application for a permit to build and operate a massive oil pipeline across the U.S.-Canada border, according to sources who have been briefed on the matter.

However the administration will allow TransCanada to reapply after it develops an alternate route through the sensitive habitat of Nebraska’s Sandhills. Deputy Secretary of State William J. Burns will make the announcement, which comes in response to a congressionally-mandated deadline of Feb. 21 for action on the proposed Keystone pipeline.

When Cornell announced that it had received a remarkable, anonymous $350 million donation specifically to help it build a new engineering and technology-focused school on Roosevelt Island (effectively forcing the city to select its bid) there was a lot of speculation as to who would donate that kind of money (*cough* hizzoner *cough*). But there is no reason to speculate anymore, the donor has come forward and, honestly? He sounds like the kind of 1 percenter we could use more of.

The gift to help the upstate Ivy remake Roosevelt Island in its image comes from The Atlantic Philanthropies, an organization which has been helping Duty Free billionaire Charles F. Feeney, 80, give away his fortune since 1982 ($2.1 billion to go as of the end of 2010!). "This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity," Feeney said in a statement about the donation, "to create economic and educational opportunity on a transformational scale."

The thing is, Feeney's giving isn't just to the Ivy in Ithaca (though he has given quite generously, if anonymously, to his alma mater). He also is "credited with supporting hospitals and schools in Vietnam, mitigating poverty in South Africa and contributing to the peace process in Northern Ireland. He has supported higher education on a broad scale, particularly in the Republic of Ireland. Cornell also has been a major beneficiary: Atlantic Philanthropies (AP), the charitable foundation Feeney founded, has, over a span of 25 years, given almost $600 million to the university."

 As the majority of America’s brightest college graduates head to Wall Street, Yale University students gathered at a Morgan Stanley recruitment event yesterday to urge a different path.

Chanting “Make Change Not Money” in unison, more than 30 students “held signs and shouted for their fellow classmates to forsake a career in financial services in exchange for careers that could positively affect the lives of many people.”

Though 25 percent of Yale students seek careers in finance, protesters called it “a waste of brain power” and held signs labeling it as a “Brain Drain.” “They could do so much more in this world,” said one protester told the New Haven Register. “I’m concerned that they’re not putting all of their talents to use.” (HT: @aterkel)