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After 27 months of legal wrangling, Tribune Co. and its creditors are finally headed into what could be the deciding chapter of the company’s tangled bankruptcy saga.
The case will enter what bankruptcy law practitioners call confirmation hearings Monday, and for the next two weeks U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Carey in Delaware will hear evidence from an army of lawyers arguing for and against two competing visions of how to restructure the Chicago-based media conglomerate.
Tribune Co. employees at the time of company’s 2007 leveraged buy-out are eligible to join a class action lawsuit against the ESOP trustee that represented their interests in the takeover by billionaire Sam Zell, a federal judge ruled Friday. Get the full story »
Bloomberg News | The Robert R. McCormick Foundation, onetime one of the largest shareholders in Tribune Co., opposes the remaining two reorganization plans for the media giant, because neither would end lawsuits against shareholders, including the foundation, that made billions of dollars in the company’s leveraged buyout.
Tower Ticker | The Chicago Blackhawks and Chicago’s WGN Channel 9 said Tuesday that they have extended their broadcast partnership through the 2015-16 season.
The value of the deal was not announced.
The news comes a day after pro basketball’s Los Angeles Lakers announced a new 20-year local TV deal with Time Warner Cable that will take the franchise off over-the-air television beginning with the 2012-13 season, except for national network broadcasts.
Tribune Co. said Friday that the long-awaited creditor vote in the media company’s 26-month-old bankruptcy case will allow both restructuring plans competing for a judge’s approval to move forward toward confirmation hearings scheduled for March 7.
The vote provided no surprises. Each of the two competing plans won support from the creditor alliance that proposed it and suffered rejection from the other side.
Tribune Co. owns the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and other media properties. Get the full story »
Tribune Co. plans to invest $53 million in its Food Network partnership in connection with the cable channel’s launch of a second culinary channel last year, a source close to the transaction confirmed Friday.
The Chicago-based parent of the Chicago Tribune and other media assets expects to file a motion regarding the investment with the bankruptcy court in Delaware Friday, the source said. Tribune Co. has been operating under Chapter 11 protection since December 2008. Get the full story »
A group of lenders has withdrawn its plan for reorganizing newspaper owner Tribune Co, leaving two proposals for ending the company’s two-year stay in bankruptcy, according to court documents.
The group known as the Bridge Lenders agreed to withdraw its plan and support Tribune’s proposal, which is based on a settlement among lenders JPMorgan Chase & Co and hedge funds Oak Tree Capital Management and Angelo, Gordon & Co. Get the full story »
Chicago-based Tribune Co. said Wednesday that operating cash flow at its two largest publishing units — the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune — was essentially flat in 2010 compared to 2009, while overall operating cash flow increased $140 million to $635 million.
“The past year showed substantial improvement over 2009,” Chandler Bigelow, Tribune Co.’s chief financial officer, said in a statement. Get the full story »
Attorneys for creditors who oppose the Tribune Co.’s proposed reorganization plan are seeking more information related to the 2007 leveraged buyout that left the media conglomerate saddled with debt. Get the full story »
Elite Street | By Bob Goldsborough | Former Tribune Co. Chief Executive Randy Michaels has listed his 31st-floor, penthouse condominium unit in Streeterville for $989,000.
Tribune Co. Chairman Sam Zell named Michaels, whose real name is Benjamin Homel, to the company’s executive team in December 2007 and promoted him to CEO in late 2009. Michaels resigned under pressure in October, after weeks of escalating allegations that he and some associates that he had recruited had tarnished the company with boorish, sexist behavior. Get the full story »
Wall Street Journal | Creditor Aurelius Capital Management has amped up its opposition to the Tribune Co.’s Chapter 11 plan, demanding a full accounting of the media holdings of JP Morgan’s media holdings.
Tower Ticker | Bill White, operations director of WBT-AM and FM and WLNK-FM in Charlotte N.C., has been named the new program director at Chicago’s WGN-AM 720, effective Valentine’s Day.
The job at Chicago Tribune parent Tribune Co.’s radio station has been officially vacant since the exit of Kevin Metheny in November with Tom Langmyer, WGN-AM’s vice president and general manager, handling the programming responsibilities since then.
If you receive a cell phone call or text message during your job interview, don’t answer it. Doing so ranks as job candidates’ most common mistake in an interview, according to a survey of hiring managers.
Indeed, 71 percent of managers surveyed named it as the top blunder, according to a report out Wednesday from online career site CareerBuilder. Other common mistakes: dressing inappropriately and appearing disinterested, each cited by 69 percent of managers, followed closely by appearing arrogant at 66 percent. Get the full story »
Tribune Co. said Tuesday that its Chicago subsidiary has acquired Naperville Magazine, a lifestyle monthly devoted to the Illinois suburb of the same name. Get the full story »
Chicago Magazine has hired the Chicago Reader’s Whet Moser as associate digital editor for its chicagomag.com Web site. Chicago Magazine is part of Tribune Co.’s Chicago Tribune Media Group.
