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.”
Filed under: Newspapers
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Oct. 29, 2010 at 11:07 a.m.
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Filed under: Chicago executives, Media, Newspapers, Radio, TV, Work culture Abrams: Tribune tales ‘blown out of proportion’
U.S., Chicago newspaper circulation drops
Paid print circulation figures released Monday by the Audit Bureau of Circulations showed the April-to-September average paid U.S. circulation figures dipped 5 percent weekdays and 4.5 percent Sundays compared to the same period a year ago.
The Chicago Tribune average paid circulation declines for the six-month period was in line with that, slipping year-to-year around 5.2 percent weekdays and almost 4.4 percent Sundays. The Chicago Sun-Times’s average paid circulation fell 9 percent on weekdays and 5.5 percent on Sundays.
Tribune Co. CEO Randy Michaels resigns
Having lost the support of many employees, his board and the creditors who will soon take over the bankrupt media company, Tribune Co. Chief Executive Randy Michaels resigned Friday, as the company’s board sought to end one of the most tumultuous episodes in the history of the 163-year-old Chicago institution.
News Corp. ices digital newsstand plan
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. has put on hold ambitious plans to create a subscription online newsstand, after failing to attract enough interest among other news organizations, a person familiar with the plan said.
The owner of the Times of London, Fox News and the Wall Street Journal will reassign the staff working on “Project Alesia,” which aimed to charge readers for a bundle of newspaper and magazine digital content.
The source said News Corp was unable to reach a “critical mass” of publishers to support the plan. Get the full story »
Tribune CEO poised to resign
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.
More staff cuts at the Chicago Sun-Times
From Crain’s Chicago Business | Chicago-based company Sun-Times Media LLC is cutting jobs across the company, including at the Chicago Sun-Times, the Post-Tribune in Merrillville, Ind., and the Southtown Star in Tinley Park.
Oct. 19, 2010 at 2:05 p.m.
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Filed under: Bankruptcy, Chicago executives, Media, Newspapers Tribune CEO Randy Michaels: I have not resigned
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 »
Tribune board to weigh CEO Randy Michaels’ fate
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>>
Oct. 13, 2010 at 11:00 p.m.
Filed under: Chicago executives, Media, Newspapers, Radio, TV, Work culture Tribune executive suspended over e-mail
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 »
Oct. 13, 2010 at 5:33 p.m.
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Filed under: Bankruptcy, Media, Newspapers, Radio, TV, Video Tribune bankruptcy judge extends filing deadlines
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 »
Tribune Co. exec apologizes for ‘offensive’ memo
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 »
Oct. 6, 2010 at 10:17 a.m.
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Filed under: Chicago executives, Media, Newspapers, Radio, TV, Updated, Work culture Tribune Co. CEO: ‘Ignore noise’ of NY Times 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 »
Oct. 5, 2010 at 10:20 a.m.
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Filed under: Bankruptcy, Management, Media, Newspapers, Radio, TV, Updated Eisner says he’d advise, not run, Tribune Co.
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 »
Tribune Co. talks continue; judge weighs failure
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 »
Wall Street Journal says print, digital revenue up
From The New York Times | The Wall Street Journal says its revenue climbed 17 percent in the period since June.
The news bucks the overall downward trend in the newspaper business. Even print advertising revenue, which has been in steep decline at most newspapers for the past few years, grew more than 21 percent at the Journal.
