Tribune Co

Former Los Angeles Times Publisher Jeffrey M. Johnson has taken an executive position with Yucaipa Cos., the private investment firm that last year joined in a bid to buy the newspaper's parent, Tribune Co. of Chicago.

The little-known Pfaffinger Foundation was created in 1936 to provide financial assistance to current and former employees of Times Mirror Co. So now it faces something of a crisis: What happens when there are no more Times Mirror employees? "We are trying to figure that out," said the foundation's chairman, Stephen C. Meier. "We don't know yet." Times Mirror is scheduled to be merged into Chicago-based Tribune Co.

This will be my last column for the L.A. Times. After four years, I'll soon be starting a stint at the Pentagon as an advisor to the undersecretary of Defense for policy. Some might say I have a "new job," but because I'll be escaping a dying industry -- and your tax dollars will shortly be paying my salary -- I prefer to think of it as my personal government bailout.

How much should a company's culture reflect its chief executive, especially one who prides himself on being a blunt and innovative -- some might say abrasive -- businessman? If you're new Tribune Co. CEO Sam Zell, the answer seems to be: A lot. At least that was the feeling workers got Wednesday with the distribution of a new employee handbook, a document that's nothing like the mind-numbing, lawyered gobbledygook in most corporate manuals. Consider the opening: "Rule #1: Use your best judgment."

When Nelson Peltz puts his money at risk in a company, he expects to shake things up. That was the case in his junk-bond-fueled takeover of National Can Co. in 1985, his celebrated turnaround of beverage maker Snapple in the late '90s and more-recent forays involving such brands as Cracker Barrel, Wendy's and Heinz. As one admirer, Harvard Business School professor John A. Deighton, put it: "He likes to throw gasoline and then light a match."

Tribune Co. will have to mount some persuasive arguments why regulators should allow real estate mogul Sam Zell to take the media company private, Federal Communications Commissioner Michael J. Copps said. "This is a multifaceted proceeding, so I am not going to prejudge it. I will look at it in terms of the world we live in," Copps said on the sidelines of the National Assn. of Broadcasters' annual conference.

Tribune Co. has disclosed that the U.S. Department of Labor has opened an investigation into the company's employee stock ownership plan, or ESOP. The Labor Department sent a subpoena March 2 to the Chicago-based media company seeking "an extensive range of documents," Tribune Co. said in a filing made Thursday as part of its bankruptcy case. The company said it produced documents that its lawyers say "substantially complied" with the subpoena.

All the Pate children remember the long days of their youth, writing stories, running the printing press or selling newspapers for the Madill Record in Oklahoma. The tiny weekly was a pillar of the community in Madill, an oil-and-ag town of 3,400, so respected that two generations of Pates landed in the Oklahoma Press Hall of Fame. A 1990 plane crash killed the last Pate to publish the Record, effectively ending the family's local newspaper legacy.

Several former and current Los Angeles Times employees filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the newspaper's corporate parent, Tribune Co., and its chief executive, Sam Zell, contending that reckless management is destroying the value of the company. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, alleges that Zell and former Tribune CEO Dennis J. FitzSimons devised a plan to take the company private to enrich themselves to the detriment of employees.

Tribune Co. passed an early hurdle in its Chapter 11 bankruptcy case Thursday when a U.S. bankruptcy judge signed a motion authorizing the continuation of a short-term financing arrangement worth $300 million. Judge Kevin Carey also granted the company more time to file schedules of its assets and liabilities and other financial statements. The financing arrangement, supplied by Barclays Bank and secured by Tribune receivables, will last until April.

Randy Michaels was named chief executive of Tribune Co., succeeding Sam Zell, who remains chairman of the Chicago media concern that has been operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for nearly a year. Michaels, 57, joined Tribune's executive ranks when Zell took the company private in a debt-heavy December 2007 transaction, and became its chief operating officer half a year later. With his elevation to chief executive, Michaels also will join the Tribune board of directors.

A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge Tuesday extended until Feb. 28 Tribune Co.'s exclusive right to file a reorganization plan in its year-old Chapter 11 case. The decision heads off -- at least for now -- a challenge to that exclusivity by a group of senior creditors who had sought to seize control of the case by requesting the right to file a plan of their own. Tribune Co., whose holdings include the Los Angeles Times and KTLA-TV Channel 5, had asked for an extension until March 31, but in a nod to creditor concerns, Judge Kevin Carey clipped the request by a month and set a date in mid-February for a hearing to revisit the issue.

A large group of prominent investment firms sought to wrest control of the Tribune Co. bankruptcy case Tuesday in a move that threatens to intensify a pitched battle between senior and junior creditors. In a filing Tuesday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware, the group asked Judge Kevin Carey to deny a request by Tribune management to extend its exclusive right to file a reorganization plan for the media company, which is the parent of the Los Angeles Times. The group hopes to win its own right to propose a plan that would enhance senior creditor returns at the expense of the junior creditors.

Tribune Co.'s ill-fated employee stock ownership plan is toast. In a memo to employees announcing a new retirement plan Tuesday, Chief Administrative Officer Gerry Spector said the ESOP was likely to be terminated when the Chicago-based media conglomerate emerged from bankruptcy protection. That's not a surprise to close watchers of Tribune's bankruptcy case. It became clear months ago that the banks and other investors that financed Chicago billionaire Sam Zell's 2007 leveraged buyout of the company probably would take over ownership from Tribune's employees when the reorganization plan was filed.

The Chicago Cubs filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday, a step that will allow their owner to sell the baseball team in an $845-million deal. The filing in Wilmington, Del., was anticipated and is expected to lead to a brief stay in Chapter 11 for the Cubs. A hearing was scheduled for today in front of the judge who has been handling the bankruptcy of the Cubs' owner, Tribune Co. The Cubs' filing is part of Tribune Co.'s plans to sell the team, Wrigley Field and related properties to the family of billionaire Joe Ricketts , the founder of Omaha-based TD Ameritrade.

Tribune Co. said Friday that it signed an agreement to sell the Chicago Cubs to the Ricketts family. The family is paying about $800 million to acquire a 95% interest in the team, Wrigley Field and Tribune Co.'s 25% stake in Comcast SportsNet Chicago, which broadcasts many Cubs games on cable television. Tribune will retain a 5% ownership stake in the joint venture. The announcement is somewhat anticlimactic because in January Tribune had selected the Ricketts family as the winner of a protracted auction for the franchise.

Tribune Co. Chief Operating Officer Randy Michaels signaled Thursday that his team wants to lead Tribune's operations when it emerges from Bankruptcy Court. Responding to speculation that Tribune Chairman Sam Zell would leave Tribune when creditors holding $8.6 billion in debt take control, Michaels said in an e-mail to employees that "while the ownership structure of the company is likely to change, current operating management is committed, and intends to remain in place during and after the restructuring."

A Delaware bankruptcy judge agreed to hear arguments next week in a dispute over Tribune Co.'s request to approve about $70 million in bonuses for top managers. The judge agreed to an expedited hearing on the Chicago media company's motion seeking to prevent the release of a compensation consultant's report to a labor union challenging the bonus plans. He is scheduled to hear arguments Tuesday. Tribune owns the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and other media properties.

Tribune Co. has disclosed that the U.S. Department of Labor has opened an investigation into the company's employee stock ownership plan, or ESOP. The Labor Department sent a subpoena March 2 to the Chicago-based media company seeking "an extensive range of documents," Tribune Co. said in a filing made Thursday as part of its bankruptcy case. The company said it produced documents that its lawyers say "substantially complied" with the subpoena.

This will be my last column for the L.A. Times. After four years, I'll soon be starting a stint at the Pentagon as an advisor to the undersecretary of Defense for policy. Some might say I have a "new job," but because I'll be escaping a dying industry -- and your tax dollars will shortly be paying my salary -- I prefer to think of it as my personal government bailout.