Zell's Tribune Co. Heads Toward Default on Loans

News cuts may stem advertising losses or hemorrhage them

(NEWSER) - Sam Zell and his Tribune Company announced last week that they would trim 500 pages of news each week from the conglomerate's dozen newspapers, including the LA Times and the Chicago Tribune. But is a paper split 50-50 between news and ads the solution for an industry in crisis? The New York Times looks at the viability of a radical plan. 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»

What he's done to, and says about, Tribune Co. shows fundamental misunderstanding

(NEWSER) - Sam Zell may or may not turn the Tribune Company around, but his ownership has crippled “real newsgathering,” Peter Osnos writes in the Daily Beast. “If Tribune goes down, he will still be very rich,” Osnos continues, “but he will have presided over the evisceration of some of our best newspapers.” While Zell understands newspapers must make money, he ignores the commodity they sell: the news. More»

Ann Marie Lipinski ends 7-year run in job 'not the fit it once was'

(AP) - Chicago Tribune editor Ann Marie Lipinski handed in her resignation today after 7 years in the top post at the Tribune Company's flagship paper. Lipinski's departure comes a week after the 161-year-old newspaper told its staff it would eliminate about 80 newsroom jobs amid a broad effort to cut costs as advertising and circulation revenues decline at its newspapers nationwide. More»

Tribune chief hiring radio veterans to help company

(NEWSER) - New publishing mogul Sam Zell is recruiting colorful veterans from the radio industry in a bid to help save his struggling Tribune Company, the Wall Street Journal reports. Zell is hoping the imports will spark innovation at the company, whose debt has swelled to $12.8 billion amid declining newspaper ad revenue. Most of the new recruits come from Clear Channel Communications; they're expected to shake up Zell's newspapers as they did the radio scene. More»