TO: Tribune Company Employees
FROM: Dennis FitzSimons
SUBJECT: Update
January 4, 2007
Dear Fellow Employee,
This morning, Tribune’s second-largest shareholder, the McCormick Tribune/Cantigny Foundations (MTF), announced that it had retained financial and legal advisors to evaluate alternatives for its Tribune holdings. MTF owns more than 13 percent of the company’s outstanding shares.
As specified by Colonel McCormick’s will, the five directors who serve on the MTF board are former or current executives of Tribune Company. As you may know, I serve as the board’s chairman and the other members are Jim Dowdle, John Madigan, Scott Smith and David Hiller. Given our role as current officers of the company, Scott, David and I have voluntarily recused ourselves from any deliberations regarding alternatives for MTF’s investment in Tribune. The full MTF board voted to create a special advisory committee to handle this task. The special committee is made up of Jim Dowdle and John Madigan, who retired as officers of Tribune Company in 1999 and 2003, respectively.
The review of strategic options for the company, led by management and overseen by an independent special committee of Tribune’s board of directors continues moving forward. You can be sure that the board will continue acting in the best interest of all shareholders. The board expects to make an announcement in the first quarter.
The next few weeks will likely bring more speculation in the media regarding Tribune’s future. As we begin the New Year, it is important that we continue serving our communities with outstanding journalism and operate our media businesses with a strong focus on our customers. Thank you for your dedication and hard work.
Sincerely,
Dennis
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