Media News

Baquet Welcome to Return to 'New York Times'
Almost from the moment that Dean Baquet lost his job at the Los Angeles Times last fall after challenging the paper's plans to cut staff, speculation arose that he would return to The New York Times, where he spent nearly a decade in the 1990s, rising to national editor before leaving in 2000.

Newspaper Blog Traffic Triples
The number of people reading Internet blogs on the top 10 U.S. newspaper sites more than tripled in December from a year ago and accounted for a larger percentage of overall traffic to those sites, according to data released on Wednesday.

Broad and Burkle Would Bring Back Baquet
Wow, was the Tribune Co. punked, or what? That was some lousy auction since none of the bidders offered to pay a premium to swallow the company whole.

Chandlers, moguls in battle for Tribune
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.

Tribune auction ends in silence
The deadline for Tribune Co.'s four-month effort to find a buyer came and went Wednesday, producing few clear options and leaving the fate of the venerable Chicago media conglomerate still up for grabs.As recently as Monday, potential suitors had been expected to produce offers pricing the company at or above the market price of about $30 a share.

Time Inc. Lays Off Nearly 300
Time Inc. said today it will cut nearly 300 jobs at its top magazines, including its most profitable title, People, which is shutting down its bureaus in Washington, Miami, Chicago and Austin, Texas.

No perfect bid for Tribune
None of the offers in the four-month auction process is what the company's directors were looking for—a straight-ahead bid for the entire company at a price above the market value. And, observers said, the disappointing results might raise the odds that Tribune would embark on what Wall Street calls a "self-help strategy," loading up the company with debt to pay out a large, one-time dividend, while spinning off its broadcast assets in a tax-free transaction.

Big checks for execs who lose jobs at Tribune
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.

No Clear-Cut Path for Tribune’s Board
The company received at least two firm bids by Wednesday’s deadline, one from the Los Angeles team of Eli Broad and Ronald W. Burkle, and another from the Chandler family, the company’s largest shareholder. A third potential bidder, the Carlyle Group, has expressed interest but only in Tribune’s television group. The company also owns 11 papers, including The Los Angeles Times.

Two groups bid for media titan
The Chandler family, which controls about 20% of Tribune, offered other stockholders $19.30 a share for Tribune's newspapers and publishing assets, it said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Thursday. The unit includes the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Newsday and The Hartford Courant. Current shareholders also would get stock in a new entity valued at $12.40 a share holding Tribune's broadcast assets. The company has 23 TV stations, as well as Superstation WGN, 31.3% of the Food Network and the Chicago Cubs. The offer, in effect, values Tribune at about $7.6 billion.

Why No Local Bids for the 'Trib'?
Yet the Chicago Tribune of Col. McCormick and Mike Royko is up for sale -- and the city's reaction is a collective shrug of those Big Shoulders.