The partnerships were set up by the family in the late 1990s before the sale of Times Mirror. In addition to stock, they contain venture capital investments and commercial real estate holdings, including the buildings that house The Times and other former Times Mirror papers, including Newsday and the Baltimore Sun.
Now the Chandlers want to take money out of the partnership without selling their Tribune shares. Such a sale could trigger a heavy tax bill.
The method for unwinding those partnerships, valued at $3.55 billion in a recent securities filing, is one of the matters in dispute between the Chandlers and other Tribune directors. Tribune has a minority stake in those partnerships. The Chandlers' investment in The Times, Times Mirror and Tribune have been held in trusts created in 1938 by Harry Chandler.
Until the last heir who was alive in that year dies, the trusts carry some restrictions, including a provision that the family keep a significant stake in The Times, according to a former Times Mirror attorney and other sources.
Those restrictions are why the Times Mirror sale included the creation of a separate board for The Times, 40% of which is appointed by the Chandlers. Any sale separating The Times from the rest of Tribune needs the approval of 75% of that board, giving the Chandlers veto power, securities filings from 2000 show.
Some experts believe that newspapers might be better off under private control, without the financial pressure of Wall Street.
Geoffrey Cowan, dean of USC's Annenberg School for Communication, said private local ownership could help The Times avoid continued cutbacks.
"People worry that economic pressures will force The Times to continue to reduce its staffing and the special features it puts out, whether it's the magazine section or the book review section or bureaus around the world," Cowan said.
One downside: Private investors with no roots in journalism could cut costs even more than traditional media companies to streamline operations before a sale.
