Multiple Bids for Trib Remain in Play

BROAD-BURKLE BID FOR TRIBUNE LIKELY TO REMAIN IN PLAY
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Thomas S. Mulligan thomas.mulligan@latimes.com]
The bid submitted for Tribune Co. by billionaires Eli Broad and Ron Burkle expires this afternoon, but people familiar with the auction say they expect the Chicago-based media company to withhold a response for now while encouraging the pair to stay involved. A major Tribune investor said last week that he found the Broad-Burkle bid to be attractive because it would involve an immediate $27-per-share cash dividend plus an infusion of $500 million in capital from the two entrepreneurs. Tribune, corporate parent of the Los Angeles Times, KTLA Channel 5, the Chicago Cubs baseball team and other newspapers and TV stations, also received bids last week from its biggest shareholder group, California's Chandler family, and from the New York-based private-equity firm Carlyle Group. The $4.7-billion Carlyle bid is only for Tribune's broadcast division and the Cubs [which many consider the jewel in Tribune's tainted crown]. Although the Chandlers did not spell out their plans in their letter, they are expected to later sell the newspapers, which include The Times, the Chicago Tribune, New York Newsday and eight other papers. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. has thrown in with the Chandlers, agreeing to take a minority stake in their deal, according to a News Corp. insider who spoke on condition of anonymity because he had not been authorized to discuss the situation. Under the deal, News Corp. -- owner of the Fox TV network, cable's Fox News channel and the 20th Century Fox studio -- would get an operating agreement allowing it to cut costs by combining certain noneditorial operations of Newsday with those of its own New York Post.
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-tribune24jan24,1,1823817.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-business
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NEWS CORP ENTERS BID BATTLE FOR TRIBUNE
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Matthew Garrahan and Aline van Duyn]
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp has joined the Chandler family in its bid for Tribune Company, with an eye to taking a stake in New York’s Newsday newspaper. Newsday, which is based in Long Island, is one of Tribune’s largest newspapers. Murdoch wants to combine back office and operational functions at Newsday with those of the New York Post, the News Corp tabloid that has made big circulation gains in recent years but continues to rack up losses. Murdoch would likely take a minority stake in a consortium owning the Tribune’s newspapers, rather than attempting to buy outright control of Newsday. Given News Corp’s television and newspapers interests in the New York market, the company would be constrained by media ownership rules. Any deal for Newsday would also hinge on the success of the Chandler consortium’s bid for Tribune, although Murdoch’s interests identify him as a potential partner if future bidders emerge for parts of the Tribune group.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/7a8febee-ab0b-11db-b5db-0000779e2340.html
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* News Corp. participates in Tribune bid
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlebusiness.aspx?type=tnBusinessNews&storyID=nWEN2626&imageid=&cap=&from=business

GEFFEN TURNS PAGE IN A MEDIA DREAM STORY
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Matthew Garrahan]
David Geffen’s new interest in the newspaper industry comes as a surprise, given the margin pressures the sector is facing amid the rising tide of competition from the Internet. Geffen, the founder of Geffen Records and a co-founder of DreamWorks SKG, the movie studio he started with Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg, wants to buy the Los Angeles Times. The newspaper is currently owned by Tribune Company, which also owns other papers, such as the Chicago Tribune, and is itself on the auction block. Rob Burkle and Eli Broad, two Southern California-based billionaires, have bid for Tribune, as has Carlyle, the private equity group, while the Chandler family, one of Tribune’s largest shareholders, has offered to buy the company and sell off the newspaper assets. With Tribune’s fate uncertain, Mr Geffen, worth an estimated $4.5bn according to Forbes magazine, is biding his time. One thing is clear though: having had a $2bn cash offer for the LA Times rejected by Tribune, he could yet play a key role in the newspaper’s future.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/60e6e55c-ab0c-11db-b5db-0000779e2340.html
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