Florida Just Warned the New York Times of the Consequences for Gambling With Your Pension Money

The New York Times has spent years publishing stories that blew up into embarrassing corrections and legal headaches.

Florida's attorney general just decided Times shareholders shouldn't be the ones eating the cost of that.

What Florida is demanding from the Times boardroom right now could decide whether cops and teachers get paid.

Florida's Pension Fund Holds 160,000 Shares Of New York Times Stock

James Uthmeier isn't some outside critic yelling at the Times on cable news.

He's Florida's attorney general, and he's also one of three trustees who run the State Board of Administration, the agency that manages retirement money for Florida's teachers, cops, firefighters, and state workers.

That fund owns roughly 160,000 shares of New York Times Company stock.

On Monday, Uthmeier's office sent the Times a demand letter invoking shareholder inspection rights under New York corporate law.

He wants board briefing materials, board meeting minutes, and internal reports on how Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger and his board handled the fallout from the paper's own disputed reporting.

The Times has 14 days to respond – the deadline lands August 24 – or Uthmeier says he'll take the fight to a New York courtroom.

The Times pushed back hard.

A spokesperson called the letter "a clear attempt to chill First Amendment-protected journalism."

Uthmeier isn't buying that framing, and he's not asking as a media critic.

He's asking as a shareholder representing Florida retirees, and by his own account he's worried the Times has become "untrustworthy" in a way that puts its own brand – and its stock price – at risk.

Florida Already Made This Exact Move Against Target And It Worked

This isn't Uthmeier's first fight, and it isn't a bluff.

Florida's pension fund and America First Legal already filed a class-action lawsuit against Target last year over its Pride campaign.

The claim was simple: Target's executives hid the financial risk of their own activism from investors, and when the backlash hit, Target's stock got hammered and pension funds took the loss.

Florida didn't file that Target lawsuit to score a talking point.

It filed because retirees actually lost money when a corporate board let politics override plain business judgment.

The Times is now getting the exact same warning shot.

Every dollar Sulzberger's board spends managing self-inflicted editorial disasters – corrections, legal exposure, advertiser pullback, subscriber cancellations – comes straight out of the value Florida retirees are counting on.

The Times itself has told investors for years that its brand and its credibility are its most valuable assets.

Uthmeier is simply asking Sulzberger to prove his own board is protecting that asset instead of torching it one op-ed at a time.

Why This Should Worry Every New York Times Shareholder

Here's what should have A.G. Sulzberger sweating tonight: this fight isn't about politics anymore, it's about fiduciary duty, and fiduciary duty cases have teeth.

If Uthmeier's team finds what they're looking for – a Sulzberger-led board that knew its editorial process was creating legal and reputational risk and did nothing – Florida doesn't just get to complain.

It gets to sue, in New York, on behalf of every teacher and firefighter whose retirement is sitting inside that stock.

Sulzberger has three weeks to decide whether he wants to hand over his board's records or hand Florida a courtroom fight instead.

Either way, Florida retirees now have an attorney general treating their pension money like it actually matters.

Sources:

• Just the News Staff, "Florida demands scores of NYT records in attempt to scrutinize its editorial process," Just the News, August 10, 2026.
• Mediaite Staff, "Florida AG James Uthmeier Demands New York Times Records," Mediaite, August 11, 2026.
• Baltimore Sun Staff, "Florida AG is seeking New York Times records, citing effect on shareholders," The Baltimore Sun, August 11, 2026.
• Fox Business Staff, "Florida AG files class action lawsuit against Target over Pride displays, DEI policies," Fox Business, February 2025.
• My Florida Legal, "Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier and America First Legal File Class Action Lawsuit Against Target for Misleading and Defrauding Investors Over Market Risks of LGBTQ Activism," Office of the Attorney General, 2025.