Tribune Company

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Tribune Company

Type	Public (NYSE: TRB)
Founded	1847
Headquarters	Chicago, Illinois
Key people	Dennis FitzSimons, CEO & President Scott Smith, President of Tribune Publishing Patrick J. Mullen, President, Tribune Broadcasting
Industry	Entertainment
Products	television, newspapers, radio
Revenue	2% ($5.73 billion USD, FY 2005)
Employees	21,500
Slogan	various
Website	www.tribune.com

The Tribune Company (NYSE: TRB) is a large American multimedia corporation based in Chicago, Illinois. It's the nation's second-largest newspaper publisher. In a press release on Tribune's website, real estate mogul Sam Zell won the bid to buyout the media company for $34 a share. He plans to turn the company private. The deal is expected to be completed some time in the fourth quarter. The buyout is for $8.2 billion--$13 billion including the Tribune's debt. The Tribune has faced severe financial problems for several months now.

The company owns the Chicago Tribune, Tribune Broadcasting (whose flagship station is WGN), the Chicago Cubs, the Los Angeles Times, Newsday in New York, the Hartford Courant, The Baltimore Sun, the Daily Press, Orlando Sentinel, and many other media outlets. The company currently owns 23 broadcast stations and 16 newspapers. Tribune Company's revenues total billions of dollars each year.

Tribune Company also owns Tribune Entertainment, which owns the distribution rights to several television shows including South Park, Family Feud & Soul Train, and the domestic rights to Candid Camera and FremantleMedia's syndicated programming, as well as its own in-house productions such as Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda, Mutant X, BeastMaster, Gene Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict, NightMan and others.

On April 2, 2007, the Tribune Company announced their acceptance of Sam Zell's offer to buy the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, and other media assets. Zell says he will take the company private and sell off the Chicago Cubs after the 2007 season along with the company's 25 percent interest in Comcast SportsNet in an attempt to relieve some of the company's debt.

Up until the time of shareholder approval, Los Angeles billionaires Ron Burkle and Eli Broad may submit a higher bid, in which case Zell would receive a $25 million buyout fee. Zell is reportedly financing the purchase of the company using an employee owned ESOP for financing. One major question is if a Zell-owned Tribune Company would be allowed to own television and newspaper assets in the same markets as even the grandfathered Chicago and New York markets are now in question.^[1]