Geffen tried to buy stake in NYT

Fortune.com reported the basic story that Hollywood mogul David Geffen recently sought to acquire the 19% stake in the New York Times that is held by hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners, but that no deal was reached. The Wrap.com posts this afternoon, based on an unnamed source "close to the negotiation," that the deal fell through because Geffen and the fund could not agree on a price.

The individual also told The Wrap that Harbinger sought a premium on top of what Geffen was ready to offer, which was purely market value.

Harbinger acquired its 19% stake in Times common shares in 2007. Since then, the $500 million investment has lost more than three quarters of its value.

Hmm, Geffen still wants to buy in to a newspaper. When he was kicking the tires on purchase of the Los Angeles Times, reports were that he offered Tribune $2 billion but that Sam Zell turned him down. Bullet dodged there for Geffen — though maybe the price is coming down to his liking?

Also at The Wrap: The site formally announced the hiring of former Variery executive editor Michael Speier as news editor and said that Charlie Koones, CEO of Rockmore Media, LLC and the former president and publisher of Variety and Reed Entertainment Group, joins as a member of The Wrap's board of directors.