Zell Is Revising Bid for Tribune

ZELL IS REVISING BID FOR TRIBUNE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Sarah Ellison sarah.ellison@wsj.com]
In an effort to boost his prospects with Tribune Co., real-estate magnate Sam Zell is negotiating a revised offer for the company. Details of Mr. Zell's revised offer aren't clear, although it was already known that his bid involved use of an employee stock-ownership plan taking on debt to buy some of the newspaper and TV company. Tribune executives had become increasingly concerned about any deal involving a large amount of debt given the weakening business outlook for newspapers. It is possible Mr. Zell is trying to find ways of raising the equity portion of his bid and reducing the amount of debt involved. Zell said he doesn't intend to break up the company, which owns the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune as well as a group of TV stations and the Chicago Cubs. "We cannot look at it from a breakup perspective," he said.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117444881994543810.html?mod=todays_us_page_one
(requires subscription)

* Zell says he's still talking to Tribune
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8O06RC80.htm

* Trib revenue down 3.4% in February, circ revenue down 7%
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070321/tribune_sales.html?.v=1