Carlos Slim Helu, who has ridden to the rescue of the New York Times with a $250m loan this week, professed to know little about the closest thing America has to a newspaper of record just six months ago.

“Do you know the New York Times?” the world’s second-richest man asked one visitor in July. “Do you know this guy [Arthur] Sulzberger and some woman called Janet [Robinson, chief executive]? What do you think?”