Tribune Co. creditors court Michael Eisner and Jeff Shell for top jobs

August 25, 2010

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2010/08/hold.html

Former Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Michael D. Eisner is in discussions that could lead to his return to the media spotlight – as chairman of the now-bankrupt Tribune Co.

The media company’s largest creditors are having preliminary conversations with prospective candidates who could operate Tribune once it emerges from bankruptcy, according to several people with knowledge of the situation.

Eisner, who has been dabbling in the digital world as an investor since stepping down from Disney in 2005, is among the candidates under consideration to replace Chicago real estate magnate Sam Zell as chairman of the reorganized company.

Discussions about new management at Tribune are still exploratory, people close to one of the creditors cautioned. Senior creditors can’t make changes until a plan is in place allowing the company to emerge from its nearly two-year legal morass.

Tribune owns the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, KTLA-TV Channel 5 and 22 other TV stations and six newspapers.

Under one scenario being discussed by the senior creditors, Eisner, who is 68, would be joined by Jeff Shell, a former News Corp. cable executive who is now in top management at Comcast Corp., according to four people with knowledge of the talks. Shell would become chief executive of Tribune, replacing Randy Michaels.

Eisner was unavailable for comment, according to his spokeswoman. But he told Variety in a wide-ranging interview Monday that he has been accumulating Tribune debt. “You are talking to somebody who is buying debt in the Tribune Co. The salvation of the newspaper is some kind of pay arrangement [online], which will evolve into something significant,” Eisner said in the interview.

Shell, 44, a Los Angeles native who runs Comcast’s cable channels group from the company’s headquarters in Philadelphia, declined to comment. Earlier in his career, Shell worked for Disney on the strategic planning staff when Eisner ran the company.

Tribune and its creditors are still struggling to negotiate a settlement around charges that Zell’s 2007 leveraged buyout was a case of "fraudulent conveyance," meaning the transaction rendered the company insolvent from Day One. That settlement would serve as the basis for a plan of reorganization, but depending on how negotiations go, it could be months in coming or the case could easily devolve into litigation...  http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2010/08/hold.html

*****

Kevin Dayhoff Soundtrack: http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/ = http://www.kevindayhoff.net/ Kevin Dayhoff Art: http://kevindayhoffart.blogspot.com/ or http://kevindayhoffart.com/ = http://www.kevindayhoff.com/ Kevin Dayhoff Westminster: http://kevindayhoffwestgov-net.blogspot.com/ or http://www.westgov.net/ = www.kevindayhoff.org Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoff Twitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff Kevin Dayhoff's The New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/ = www.newbedfordherald.net Explore Carroll: www.explorecarroll.com The Tentacle: www.thetentacle.com

Zell admits ‘mistake’ in TribCo purchase

Zell admits ‘mistake’ in TribCo purchase

By: Lorene Yue April 15, 2009 Crain’s Chicago Business

(Crain’s) — Sam Zell admits that taking over Tribune Co. hasn’t gone according to plan and was a “mistake.”

“The definition if you bought something and it’s now worth a great deal less, you made a mistake,” he told Bloomberg Television on Wednesday. “And I’m more than willing to say I made a mistake. I was too optimistic in terms of the newspaper’s ability to preserve its position.”

The Chicago billionaire, who made his fortune from commercial real estate, was instrumental in taking the parent of the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times private through a complex deal that saddled it with $13 billion in debt. Tribune Co. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December, a move Mr. Zell said in Wednesday’s interview was necessary to “stop the bleeding and preserve a great company.”

The process that Mr. Zell used to take Tribune private caught the attention recently of the U.S. Department of Labor, which last month subpoenaed the company for documents related to its Employees Stock Ownership Plan, now the sole owner of Tribune Co.

Read the rest here: Zell admits ‘mistake’ in TribCo purchase

(20071028 Tribune, Patuxent Publishing Group, Baltimore Sun disclosure Kevin Dayhoff writes for three of the newspapers in the Patuxent Publishing Group, the Sunday Carroll Eagle, Westminster Eagle and Eldersburg Eagle. The Patuxent Publishing Group is owned by “Tribune.” Tribune also owns the Baltimore Sun – and as a matter of fact, the Sunday Carroll Eagle is distributed in the Sunday edition of the Baltimore Sun – see: 20071021 Baltimore Sun: “To our readers.”) Additionally I write for an online magazine, The Tentacle.)

20090415 Zell admits mistake in TribCo purchase by Lorene Yue
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=33701
Kevin Dayhoff Art: www.kevindayhoff.com (http://kevindayhoffart.blogspot.com/)

Kevin Dayhoff www.kevindayhoff.net http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/