Loss of control is almost always a risk when debt is reorganized and Tribune Co.‘s trip to bankruptcy court could cost Sam Zell just that. According to one early-stage scenario laid out by the Chicago Tribune‘s Michael Oneal, creditors holding $8.6 billion in senior debt could wind up with control…

Tribune chairman and CEO Sam Zell struck back at a class action lawsuit brought against him by a group of current and former LA Times staffers alleging that he misused the employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). Zell said the complaint, filed Tuesday in federal court, is filled with “frivolous and…

Current and former members of the Tribune Co. Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP) and various retirement programs sued Sam Zell in U.S. District Court Central District of California Tuesday, as David mentioned earlier today. Plaintiffs include retired Washington bureau chief Jack Nelson; legal affairs vet Henry Weinstein; Pulitzer-winning auto columnist…

Details of The Tribune Company’s Q1 performance won’t be released until mid-May, but the media company sought to provide a general view of how it did since going private in December. In the words of the maverick Chairman and CEO Sam Zell, revenue trends are significantly worse than expected, primarily…

The massive debt load carried by Sam Zell-owned Tribune guarantees a paper-thin margin for error in its operations. Credit analyst David Novosel estimates that the company has $4 billion in debt and interest payments to make in 2009, practically requiring major asset sales, reports Reuters. This is the context behind…

Push just came to shove at the LA Times, in a matter of speaking, with Tribune Company chairman and CEO Sam Zell coming down squarely on the business side in the dispute between publisher David Hiller and departed editor Jim O’Shea. From Zell’s email to LA staff (courtesy of LAObserved):…

The honeymoon is over at Tribune ... Jim O’Shea is out as editor of the LA Times—the second top editor to leave in 15 months over cost-cutting disputes. The WSJ reported that O’Shea was fired by publisher David Hiller “over a budgetary disagreement” according to a “person familiar with the…

Sam Zell didn’t waste any time as the new chairman and CEO of Tribune Company, (NYSE: TRB) hiring two senior execs and adding five directors to the board: —Broadcasting vet Randy Michaels, formerly CEO of Clear Channel, (NYSE: CCU) joins as EVP and CEO of Interactive and Broadcasting, while Gerald…

Tribune Company (NYSE: TRB)  has completed its going-private transaction and will operate under the Tribune Employee Stock Ownership Plan (Tribune ESOP) with Chicago real estate investor Sam Zell, who financed the $8.2 billion buyout, taking on the roles of chairman of the board and CEO. Zell added $65 million on…

Update: Tribune Company (NYSE: TRB) Chairman and CEO Dennis FitzSimons has made his resignation official and will leave the company at the end of the month. No further details about whether the issues concerning the funding of the final portion of the deal have been settled; a Tribune spokesman told…

The FCC voted 3-2 Friday to allow Tribune Company (NYSE: TRB) to transfer control of its radio and TV stations to Sam Zell et al, knocking aside the last major non-financial roadblock for the deal struck months ago to take the company private. With Democrats Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps…

Removing a potential obstacle to Sam Zell’s purchase of Tribune, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has proposed granting the company a temporary waiver of media ownership regulations, reports Reuters. The proposal by Martin earlier this month prompted some concern that the company would be required to dispose of certain assets, potentially…