For more than 15 years, sweeping leadership changes have been the norm for Tribune Publishing, owner of the Chicago Tribune and other major newspapers including the New York Daily News, the Baltimore Sun and the Orlando Sentinel.Through Sam Zell, bankruptcy, Michael Ferro and now Alden Global Capital, here is how the saga unfolded.Tribune Co.
Tribune Co. agrees to go private in an $8.2 billion leveraged buyout led by Chicago real estate tycoon Sam Zell. The deal technically hands ownership to an employee stock ownership plan but gives Zell control over the media conglomerate that traces its roots to 1847.Zell closes the second step of the two-step deal, which loads the company with about $13 billion in debt.The mastheads of the New York Post and Newsday are seen in this photo in New York, on March 21, 2008.
Tribune Co. reaches a deal to sell a 97 percent stake in Newsday, the Long Island, N.Y., newspaper, to Cablevision Systems Corp. for $650 million.Tribune Co. files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, as it runs short of cash amid the gathering recession and industrywide falloff in advertising spending. It decided it wouldn’t make payments due to holders of one class of debt. With other debt payments looming in January, the company opts for bankruptcy.
“The separation is designed to allow these two companies to have greater financial and operational focus, the ability to tailor their capital structures to specific business needs and a management team dedicated to strategic growth opportunities with maximum flexibility — in short, each will be a stronger company when separated from the other.”With the spinoff complete, Tribune Media and Tribune Publishing debut as independently publicly traded companies.