Tribune Co

Two New York commercial real estate brokerages have been selected by Tribune Co. to market the Los Angeles Times' main office downtown and Tribune Tower in Chicago to potential buyers, the company said Tuesday. Cushman & Wakefield will look for buyers for The Times' historic headquarters at 1st and Spring streets, and Eastdil Secured will try to sell the landmark Tribune building overlooking the Chicago River, said Stephanie Pater, director of real estate for Tribune.

Tribune Co., owner of the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and other media properties as well as the Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field, said Monday that it lost $121.6 million in the third quarter as newspaper advertising revenue fell. The privately held company's net income a year earlier was $152.8 million. Revenue fell 10.5% to $1.04 billion from $1.16 billion, the company said.

The company that owns the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and Chicago Cubs baseball team is preparing for a possible bankruptcy filing as it attempts to renegotiate $12 billion in debt with banks and other creditors, a Tribune Co. executive said Sunday. The Chicago media conglomerate hired Lazard Ltd. a little more than a week ago for advice on a possible Chapter 11 filing, though people familiar with internal talks said the company was exploring several options.

Tribune Co. acknowledged Thursday that it had been subpoenaed in the federal criminal case against Illinois' governor, Democrat Rod R. Blagojevich, and sources confirmed that the FBI had interviewed a close associate of company Chairman Sam Zell. The associate, Nils Larsen, is the financial advisor who allegedly was asked to help get Chicago Tribune editorial writers fired. (None were fired.) Larsen, a Tribune Co.

I've seen my colleagues plunge into rioting mobs, drive into the hills as they exploded with fire and -- on days when the earth shook -- leave their anxious families to rush to crumpled buildings. You think a little bankruptcy scares this crew? You think Chapter 11 has us down? You think we fear the future? Well, yes. Yes. And hell yes. In the ragtag old Los Angeles Times newsroom, emotions run as threadbare as the quarter-century-old carpet.

With a bidding deadline for Tribune Co. set for Jan. 17, the charitable foundation that is the media company's second-largest shareholder said Thursday that it had hired Blackstone Group as an advisor on courses of action that could include selling its 12% stake or joining in a bid for the parent of the Los Angeles Times.

The Chandler family fired its first shot last summer. The onetime owner of the Los Angeles Times lashed out at Tribune Co.'s plan to take on debt to buy back $2 billion of its stock and blamed the Chicago company's "disastrous" decision-making for its sinking stock price. Those protests forced Tribune into play. But seven months later, the family that is Tribune's largest shareholder is still waiting for satisfaction.

The 4-month-old auction of Tribune Co. appeared to be limping toward today's bidding deadline with several potential buyers on the sidelines and the California family that promoted a sale or breakup unsure whether to respond with an offer. The Chandler family, the previous owner of the Los Angeles Times, is the largest single shareholder of Tribune, the Chicago-based company that owns The Times, KTLA-TV Channel 5, the Chicago Cubs baseball team and various other media properties.

The Chandler family, which owned the Los Angeles Times for more than a century, and a partnership of local billionaires Eli Broad and Ron Burkle made competing offers Wednesday for Chicago-based media giant Tribune Co. After a four-month auction process, the bids pit two powerful Southern California interests in a battle for the company that owns The Times, KTLA-TV Channel 5 and the Chicago Cubs baseball team.

Tribune Co.'s senior executives and key employees could be in for a handsome payday if they lose their jobs in a sale of the company that owns the Los Angeles Times, KTLA-TV Channel 5 and the Chicago Cubs baseball team, documents show. According to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Thursday by the Chandler family trusts, which is among the bidders for the Chicago-based media company, "change of control payments" to Tribune executives could total $269 million.