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A group of hedge funds sued the four banks that funded Tribune Co.’s 2007 leveraged buyout, alleging that the lenders knowingly rendered the company insolvent and precipitated its 2008 bankruptcy.
The suit, filed on Friday in New York state court, charges JPMorgan Chase, Merrill Lynch Capital Corp., Citicorp North America Inc. and Bank of America with breach of contract, breach of good faith and negligence. It asks the court to set damages. Get the full story »
Business Insider | Lee Abrams tells online video studio My Damn Channel that the stories of the “frat boy” atmosphere at Tribune Co., which ultimately cost him his job as chief innovation officer at the media giant, were “blown out of proportion.”
A bankruptcy judge on Friday granted Tribune Co.’s official committee of unsecured creditors authority to make the opening moves in long-threatened litigation over the 2007 leveraged buyout blamed for the media company’s tumble into Chapter 11.
Judge Kevin Carey said he would sign off on an order acknowledging the official committee is the proper body to bring claims against lenders, executives and other leaders of the embattled media company, as well as advisers who reaped millions in fees from the LBO. Get the full story »
By Michael Oneal, Steve Mills and Stacy St. Clair | Randy Michaels, Tribune Co.’s embattled chief executive, has decided to resign his post at the Chicago-based media company and intends to leave the company before the end of the week, sources close to the situation said.
He will be replaced by a four-member office of the president that the sources said would comprise Eddy Hartenstein, president and publisher of the Los Angeles Times; Tony Hunter, president and publisher of the Chicago Tribune Media Group; Nils Larsen, Tribune Co.’s chief investment officer; and Don Liebentritt, chief restructuring officer.
By Michael Oneal and Stacy St. Clair | Randy Michaels, the embattled chief executive of bankrupt Tribune Co., said Tuesday he did not resign from the company despite expectations that he might step down from his post or be asked to leave it at a board meeting Tuesday.
“I work here today and I’m still working,” he said on his way to lunch with Chief Operating Officer Gerry Spector.
The board of the Chicago-based media company met at Tribune Tower in Chicago Tuesday amid a swirl of controversy over disclosures of sexist and boorish behavior among Michaels and his hand-picked team of executives. Get the full story »
Randy Michaels, second from left, listening to Sam Zell's press conference after he took over the Tribune Co. in 2007. (Chicago Tribune / Jose More)
By Michael Oneal and Phil Rosenthal | Tribune Co.’s board is preparing for the possible departure of embattled Chief Executive Randy Michaels, sources close to the situation said, and will explore his fate at a board meeting expected to begin about 9 a.m.Tuesday.
The sources said it was probable the board would conclude that Michaels has been too tarnished by the recent resignation of Lee Abrams, one of his top lieutenants, as well as a critical front-page New York Times story, to continue his tenure.
One source said Michaels was exploring resigning from the company and may present his decision to the board as soon as the Tuesday meeting in Chicago. The source said the board has discussed succession issues and a separation agreement for Michaels. Get the full story>>
Lee Abrams. (Handout)
Tribune Co. Chief Innovation Officer Lee Abrams, who began the work week by sending a companywide e-mail that contained content deemed inappropriate, resigned Friday.
The e-mail, the latest in a weekly series of free-form observations and exhortations Abrams sent to all Tribune Co. employees in hopes of inspiring them to reconsider print and broadcast conventions, included links to video newscast parodies. One, which contained profanity and nudity, he labeled “Sluts.” Get the full story »
Tribune Chief Innovation Officer Lee Abrams. (Tribune file photo)
By Phil Rosenthal and Michael Oneal | Tribune Co. Chief Innovation Officer Lee Abrams on Wednesday was placed on indefinite suspension without pay because of a company-wide memo he sent this week with links to off-color satirical videos, which spurred a rash of employee complaints.
“Lee recognizes that the video was in extremely bad taste and that it offended employees,” Randy Michaels, chief executive of the Chicago Tribune’s parent company, said in an e-mail announcing the suspension. “But, this is the kind of serious mistake that can’t be tolerated; we intend to address it promptly and forcefully.” Get the full story »
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Carey extended the filing deadlines in Tribune Co.’s bankruptcy case Wednesday to give rival creditor groups more time to propose alternative restructuring plans for the Chicago-based media company.
The move will push the first disclosure hearing on those plans into late November and guarantees that the all-important confirmation hearings in the case won’t be held until sometime next year.
Carey had earlier given Tribune Co. and its various creditor constituencies until this Friday to file any restructuring plans. But junior creditors asked that a company-sponsored plan negotiated earlier this week be filed first and that they be given two extra weeks to decide whether to file competing plans. Get the full story »
Days after Tribune Co.’s corporate management was characterized in a newspaper article as fostering a sexist “frat house” atmosphere, one of its top executives sent a company-wide e-mail with links to off-color satirical videos.
Among the videos was one the executive, Lee Abrams, labeled “Sluts” in which a gyrating woman appeared to pour liquor on her bare breasts.
Abrams, chief innovation officer of Tribune Co., which owns the Chicago Tribune, apologized “to everyone who was offended” in another company-wide e-mail Tuesday. Get the full story »
Tribune Co. and several of its most important creditor groups announced a broad new settlement Tuesday that brings the company closer to resolving its nearly two-year-old bankruptcy case.
The new pact includes a group of senior lenders who had been holding out on a compromise, the company said, as well as the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the case, which represents junior creditors.
Still absent from the settlement, however, are several key junior creditor groups including major bondholder Aurelius Capital Management, a litigious New York hedge fund known for disrupting large bankruptcy cases. Sources close to Aurelius have said the fund plans to file its own plan by the court imposed Oct. 15 deadline. Get the full story »
Randy Michaels, second from left, with other Tribune Co. executives at a press conference held by Sam Zell in 2007. (Jose More/Chicago Tribune)
Randy Michaels, Chicago Tribune parent Tribune Co.’s chief executive, on Tuesday night sent an e-mail urging employees to “ignore the noise” in anticipation of a New York Times story he expected to “apparently paint the work environment at Tribune as hostile, sexist and otherwise inappropriate.” Get the full story »
Former Disney Co. chief Michael Eisner denied rumors Tuesday morning that he will become chairman of a post-bankruptcy Tribune Co.
In an interview with WGN-720 AM host Greg Jarrett, Eisner acknowledged that he had bought Tribune debt as an investment and knew some of the principals involved, but said a journalist “put 2 and 2 together and got 11″ in speculating that Eisner would move into the top job at Tribune. Get the full story »
The battling parties in Tribune Co.’s fractious bankruptcy case planned to sit down Monday for another day of mediation aimed at forging a settlement of legal claims surrounding the company’s 2007 leveraged buyout.
But at a status hearing in Delaware before the mediation session began, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Carey spent much of his time anticipating how to proceed assuming the mediation fails. Get the full story »
Tribune Co. has reached a settlement with Angelo, Gordon & Co. and Oaktree Capital Management, two of the largest senior creditors in its bankruptcy case, that will form the basis of a new plan of reorganization for the company. Get the full story »
