Friday, October 29, 2010

Tribune Company Has Spent $135 Million on Bankruptcy, Creditors Allowed to Sue Sam Zell

By Matthew Fleischer  Mediabistro.com

The Tribune Company submitted a new proposal to exit Chapter 11 protection on Friday, and some mighty interesting factoids were revealed in the filing. Among other tidbits, it was revealed the Tribune Company has spent $135 million in bankruptcy-related fees.

Hmmmm, wonder how many LA Times staff positions can you save with $135 million…

Also decided on Friday, bankruptcy judge Kevin Carey said he would allow creditors to sue Sam Zell, Tribune executives, advisers and, reports the Chicago Tribune, “other architects of the ill-fated leveraged buyout after Tribune Co. restructures. Junior creditors have charged that the two-step transaction, which was led by Zell, was a case of fraudulent conveyance, meaning it left Tribune Co. insolvent from the start.”
Also from the Tribune, in the wake of the resignation of CEO Randy Michaels, an apology to its readers for its morally bankrupt corporate culture.

[Our executives] conduct has embarrassed us in front of our readers, our advertisers, our business partners and our families. It has left us answering questions about whether reports of their actions reflect the environment in which we work. We want to tell you that Chicago Tribune employees, including those who work in our newsroom, don’t conduct themselves in the manner attributed to some Tribune Co. executives.

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