After months of planning, two of Southern California's wealthiest men flew to Chicago on Saturday and made their case for buying a large and potentially controlling stake in Tribune Co., which owns the Los Angeles Times, KTLA-TV Channel 5, the Chicago Cubs and other newspapers and TV stations.
Eli Broad and Ron Burkle spent the day in a conference room with a special committee of Tribune directors, who have been assigned to sell, break up or otherwise remake the fortunes of the company, which has struggled after losing customers and advertisers to the Internet.
The special committee also must review an offer by The Times' founding family, which has proposed spinning off the TV stations and joining partners to buy Tribune's 11 daily newspapers. That offer, by California's Chandler family, could open the door to another Los Angeles potentate, entertainment mogul David Geffen, who has made a $2-billion offer for The Times alone.
Company insiders said they expected Tribune's review of the alternatives to continue for weeks.
William A. Osborn, the company's lead independent director, released a statement Saturday saying Tribune also would consider "actions the company may take alone."
Tribune offered no other details, although Wall Street has speculated that management might try to keep shareholders happy by paying a special cash dividend or by spinning off the TV stations.
Tribune's drawn-out auction seems only to have fueled the chatter in Los Angeles power circles about the fate of the city's largest media organization.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is said to be following the contest closely. A meeting of civic business powers last year on bringing a National Football League team to L.A. got sidetracked when participants began talking, instead, about the future of The Times.
Ruth Seymour, general manager for nearly 30 years of public radio station KCRW-FM (89.9), called the showdown for The Times "a defining moment" for the city.
Antonia Hernandez, president of the California Community Foundation, said that, while not everyone loves the idea of having Broad and Burkle as owners, she's optimistic. "They're ours," she said, "and they've shown that they're invested in this community."
Publicly, the billionaires have had little to say about the ongoing auction, muted by confidentiality agreements with Tribune or a desire to avoid alienating the company's management as the auction continues. A decision is expected by March 31.
