Take Back the Times: Zell, About To Take Over, To Axe FitzSimons

By Ken Reich

Sam Zell, about to take over the Tribune Co., is making the first of a series of necessary moves. Three Tribune newspapers, the L.A. Times, the Chicago Tribune and the Baltimore Sun, all report today that the inept company CEO, Dennis FitzSimons, is on his way out. The L.A. Times story says possibly as soon as today. The Chicago Tribune story says maybe not for several days.

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Now, if he doesn't eat too much of the lousy Chicago food, FitzSimons, at 57, can look forward to a long happy life, perhaps on a ranch in Montana, which he will certainly now be able to afford. I just hope for his sake that he is willing to commit part of his severance to it.

Putting him aside, into the trash bin of big business mediocrity, the question will soon arise what other immediate changes Zell, a real estate magnate who has been tremendously successful in life, but is new to the newspaper business, will make as he takes over the Tribune Co.

Certainly, appointing a new publisher and a new editor for the Los Angeles Times, and gettling new, ambitious expansion policies underway there, should be his greatest priority.

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Zell, About To Take Over, To Axe FitzSimons