Tribune moves forward with newspaper unit spinoff

Tribune Company is moving forward with the spinoff of its newspaper unit by submitting preliminary paperwork to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The media company plans to distribute a 98.5% stake in the publishing unit to existing Tribune shareholders in a tax-free transaction. Tribune will hold the other 1.5%. The newspaper unit, to be called Tribune Publishing Co., will apply to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The spinoff is expected to occur in the second quarter of 2014. Tribune owns the Los Angeles Times and seven other daily newspapers.