Tribune Company Files for Bankruptcy

Boss Randy Michaels 'offered $100 to waitress to flash her breasts'

(NEWSER) - The shockingly sexist frat boy hijinks of top managers of the Tribune Company created an alienating workplace and "bankrupt culture" that helped send the financially troubled media firm into a tailspin, reports the New York Times . Just after radio exec Randy Michaels was hired by billionaire owner Sam Zell to help run the company, he allegedly offered $100 to a waitress to flash her breasts for a gathering of senior management at a Chicago hotel, the paper reports. "I have never seen anything like it," said one executive. “Here was this guy, who was responsible for all these people, getting drunk and saying this to a waitress who many of us knew." More»

(NEWSER) - The bankrupt Tribune Company could emerge from protection with its top creditors—and not chairman Sam Zell—in charge, the Chicago Tribune reports. Zell exerts control based on $90 million he spent to secure the option of buying 40% of the company for $500 million, and a $250 million loan. Those numbers pale in comparison to the $8.6 billion Tribune owes lenders with first dibs on assets. More»

(AP) - General Motors says not enough of its bondholders agreed to swap their debt for company stock, meaning the troubled automaker is almost certainly headed for bankruptcy protection. GM has until Monday to finish restructuring or file for bankruptcy. But the company said today that its offer to exchange $27 billion in unsecured debt for 10% of the company's stock had failed. More»

Second-largest U.S. mall owner can't refinance billions in debt

(NEWSER) - Chicago-based General Growth Properties, the second-largest US shopping mall owner, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy today after attempts to refinance more than $27 billion in debt failed, Bloomberg reports. The owner of more than 200 shopping malls owes a unit of Germany’s Commerzbank $2.6 billion, while bondholders are on the hook for $4 billion. Much of the debt stems from the purchase of developer Rouse Co. in 2004. More»

Electronics retailer offers one more day of deep discounts

(NEWSER) - Today is the last day to benefit from the deeply slashed prices at the nation's closing Circuit City stores, NPR reports. Not everyone is pleased with the remaining selection of unwanted laptops and lonely printers, but shoppers are still finding deals, and the soon-to-be jobless employees seem to be doing their best to keep their spirits up. More»