• $3.7 billion in loans offered prior to Tribune Corp.’s sale source

• » … and here comes the lawsuit: A bunch of investors in Tribune Corp. have sued JPMorgan, Merrill Lynch, Citicorp and Bank of America for making those loans possible for the leveraged buyout that Sam Zell did, knowing that it’d be nearly impossible to get those funds back. In the process, the companies received $120 million in fees while Tribune floundered to the point that L.A. Times front pages like these are depressingly commonplace.

• Here was this guy, who was responsible for all these people, getting drunk in front of senior people and saying this to a waitress who many of us knew. I have never seen anything like it.
• An anonymity-hidden former Tribune executive • Describing a scene where a top Tribune Corp. exec offered a waitress $100 to show him her breasts. If that doesn’t underline the frat-boy atmosphere of the company, we don’t know else would. The company, currently comprised of a bunch of former radio execs, was run into the ground thanks to Sam Zell, who leveraged relatively little of his own money to pay for the sale, but many of his employees’ pensions. Zell no longer has a day-to-day role in the company, which has somehow managed to wear its lack of respect for journalism as a badge of honor, one that shows itself with every layoff, with every questionable advertising decision (looking at you, L.A. Times) and with every disgusting detail of this New York Times story that we’re linking to right here. source

• 
• Why he’s a good choiceRemember, this is the company owned by Sam Zell, who immediately ran it into bankruptcy after buying it and came up with a series of terrible business decisions – dramatic redesigns followed by dramatic layoffs. Hard to be much worse than that.

  Why he’s a terrible choiceThis. Is. The. Guy. Who. Nearly. Rebuffed. Pixar. When. They. Were. Disney’s. Biggest. Cash. Cow. That’s probably worse than that. source

• We blame Lee Abrams, right. Our friends at the Newport News, Va. Daily Press got some awful news this week, when they found out that much of their paper’s copy-editing and design facilities would be outsourced to the Tribune Corp. mothership in Chicago. 10 percent of their newsroom staff will get laid off as a result of this. Lee Abrams, above, is responsible for starting something similar with the radio industry. So, here’s a brief explanation of what’s up with the Daily Press:

• Tribune is bankrupt The iconic media company, which owns the Chicago Tribune, the Baltimore Sun, the Hartford Courant and a ton of other major regional newspapers, is trying to cut costs whereever they can. So as a result, they’re trying to outsource where they can.
• slippery slope Tribune has already been down this road with many of their papers – they started doing a modular system for many of the inside pages of their papers last year. The result of what’s happening to the Daily Press is something of an extreme case of the process.
• Abrams is the point guy As the Chief Innovation Officer of Tribune, many of these changes happened due to his influence. He’s done this before. He invented the tools used to eventually turn radio into a soulless wasteland. Sure, he has XM under his belt, but his story’s already been written.

Turning news into Clear Channel

• This is a model that, particularly in smaller markets, although I can see it in larger markets as well, can change the economics of the newspaper business the same way Clear Channel changed the economics of … the radio business.
• Daily Press President and Chief Executive Digby Solomon • Regarding the changes, which are in the midst of taking hold. Many of the employees who followed Sam Zell to Tribune used to work for Clear Channel, which should give you an idea of what the company is trying to do. It’s everything you hate about radio, in newspaper form. Great. Hope you guys don’t succeed at sucking the life out of news. source

• $845 million to lose a tiny bit of Tribune’s debt source

• No agreements have been reached to date. Sam, as well as the rest of the management team, remain actively engaged and committed to Tribune. The restructuring is still in progress and it is premature to speculate about the company’s final ownership structure.
• A statement from a Tribune Company spokesman • In response to reports that Sam Zell, who orchestrated a leveraged buyout of the company only to see the investment go bankrupt, would be ousted from the company. He’s under a lot of pressure from creditors, who are owed $8.6 billion in debt. And beyond that, he screwed an entire chain of newspapers in less than two years, causing thousands of people not in Chicago to lose their jobs because he bought the company with money he didn’t have. • source

• $900 million for the crown jewel of the news company source

• one Sam Zell, a real estate guy who knows very little about the newspaper industry, bought Tribune in 2007 largely using loans and debt. He regrets it.
• two The company went bankrupt last year, and in the process of radical rethinking, laid off tons of people – both in Chicago and nationwide.
• three Now, it sounds like Zell might have an out – bankers and investors could forgive his debt in exchange for the company. Wow. That’s … wow. source

• one No, when you walk in, Sam Zell doesn’t run up to you and shake your hand. Damn it, Sam!
• two Chicago has some really cool social media going on, specifically The Windy Citizen.
• three The Printed Blog, which we wrote about before, prints on glossy paper and is very cool.
• four We can find the police record of our mugging on EveryBlock while its creator is speaking.
• five The 22nd floor of Tribune Tower is a killer place for a kegger. No togas, though. source

• By definition, if you bought something and it’s now worth a great deal less, you made a mistake and I’m more than willing to say I made a mistake. I was too optimistic in terms of the newspaper’s ability to preserve its position.
• Sam Zell • Who bought Tribune in 2007, then, burdened by debt, was forced to massively reorganize the company, laying off thousands and bankrupting the company in the process. Good show, chap. • source