Tribune Empire Could Crumble

TRIBUNE EMPIRE COULD CRUMBLE
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Frank Ahrens]
A boardroom fight over the Tribune Company's limping stock price has caused anxiety in Tribune newsrooms around the country, from an open revolt by the top editor in Los Angeles to "fear and loathing" about potential job cuts among reporters and editors at some of the company's Washington bureaus. Dissident board members have lost confidence in Tribune management and seek to break up the company to boost stock price. At a board meeting last week, they forced the rest of the board to explore restructuring and divestiture plans, setting a quick Dec. 31 deadline for options. Tribune has 11 newspapers and 26 television stations; the stations appear the most vulnerable to sale. For nearly a century, newspapers were unrivaled in their ability to deliver news and sell advertising. News staffs grew fat as hiring decisions were made on coverage needs rather than bottom lines. Now, as newspapers lose readers and advertising to other media and struggle to transition to Internet and other digital forms of delivery -- while attempting to maintain profit margins of more than 20 percent and mollify Wall Street's need for growth -- cuts in jobs and newsroom budgets are coming fast and deep. All those factors alone would make things tough enough on Tribune. But, like an unlucky home buyer, Tribune purchased a group of newspapers at the height of the market only to watch the market nose-dive.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/25/AR2006092501367.html
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