The New York Times was bought in 1896 with none of its buyer’s own money.
By 1896 the paper was in receivership, down to about 9,000 readers. Adolph Ochs, who ran the Chattanooga Times and still carried about $100,000 of debt from a failed land deal, raised the $75,000 down payment from other people and promised the creditors the rest out of future profits. Eight years later the city renamed Longacre Square after his paper.
The New York Times on Brandseum