Tribune Ownership Update 3.16.07

ONE PROPOSAL FOR TRIBUNE SAID TO LOSE MOMENTUM
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Katharine Seelye]
As a March 31 deadline nears for deciding the fate of the Tribune Company, the proposal from Sam Zell, the Chicago real estate billionaire, is falling from favor. The company, which has been on the auction block for more than five months, has all but dismissed three earlier bids. With Mr. Zell’s bid losing steam, management is forced to reconsider how the company might restructure. The proposals on the table do not pay much of a premium for the company and would do little to ease its debt. Moreover, none would really accomplish anything that the current management could not do on its own, by spinning off some of the company’s assets or raising debt to pay shareholders a large dividend. “The most likely outcome is the so-called management self-help plan,” said Peter Appert, a media analyst for Goldman Sachs.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/business/media/16zell.html
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* Tribune Rethinks Part of 'Self-Help' Plan
Responding to further signs of weakening in its internal business outlook, Tribune Co. is re-evaluating the economics of the "self-help" plan it is expected to embrace. The plan will likely involve taking on debt to pay a dividend to shareholders, spinning off its TV-station group and selling the Chicago Cubs baseball team. But faced with continued declines in print advertising revenues, the company may opt to borrow less money and pay a smaller dividend than originally thought.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117400812808138845.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace
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* Advocate's union files grievance with Tribune Co.
The union representing 40 editorial employees at The Advocate and Greenwich Time is filing a grievance against the Tribune Company which is selling the two papers to Gannett Co., Inc. for $73 million. The complaint says that the union's contract, which extends until September 2008, was not considered in the sale of the paper to Virginia-based Gannett.
http://www.thestamfordtimes.com/stamford_templates/stamford_story/317144554412048.php