Tribune Co. Rejects Consortium Inquiry About Baltimore Sun (Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™)

The embattled Tribune Co., which has put its 11 newspapers and 25 television stations up for sale, is not ready to consider bids for individual properties, the company said in an e-mail exchange with a Baltimore investor group.

Ted Venetoulis, a businessman and former local politician, is leading a consortium of prominent Baltimoreans who want to buy the Sun, if Tribune decides to break up the company and sell it piece by piece.

Last week, Venetoulis e-mailed Chicago-based Tribune asking if his group could look at the Sun's financials and begin performing due diligence in order to craft a bid for the paper.

Venetoulis said his group is assembling a management team and wants to examine "operations, the printing facilities, the union contracts, what the Internet is doing, the community papers and how they relate, all financial data, the history of ad sales, whether there's any revenue coming from the Web."

"There must be 50 questions to be looked at by people of expertise," Venetoulis said yesterday. Such data -- specific to Tribune's individual properties -- are not broken out in company earnings reports. Tribune has a market capitalization of $7.6 billion.

In response, Tribune declined Venetoulis access to the Sun's books, saying the company continues to seek a single buyer for all of its properties.

Venetoulis said he has had conversations with nearly all of the bidders who want to purchase the entire company to let them know they have a willing buyer for the Sun if the new owners want to unload the Baltimore paper.

The company received nonbinding bids in late October from Los Angeles billionaires Eli Broad and Ron Burkle, private equity firms Bain Capital, Thomas H. Lee Partners and Providence Equity Partners and record company mogul David Geffen.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/061128/tribune.html?.v=1&printer=1
Tribune Extends Sale Decision Deadline
Tuesday November 28, 5:45 pm ET
Tribune to Take More Time to Decide on Sale

CHICAGO (AP) -- Media conglomerate Tribune Co. said Tuesday that it would extend its deadline for deciding whether to sell the company from the end of the year until the first quarter of 2007.

"We are committed to a complete review process that will yield maximum value for all Tribune shareholders," William A. Osborn, chairman of an independent committee set up to review offers, said in a statement. "We anticipate a final recommendation to the full board during the first quarter of 2007."

Chicago-based Tribune has been under pressure from shareholders disappointed with its sagging stock, and has said it will decide whether to sell all or parts of the business.

Tribune runs 11 newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times. It also owns 25 television stations, as well as the Chicago Cubs.

Tribune Chairman Dennis FitzSimons said response to the company's proposed sale has been "strong" and the timeline was being extended so the company could thoroughly consider all the proposals.

"This process has generated strong interest from a number of parties," he said in a statement.

Two Southern California billionaires joined forces this month to bid for the entire Tribune Co. The company also reportedly received four preliminary bids from private-equity investors and one from newspaper publisher Gannett Co.

Tribune shares climbed 32 cents, or 1 percent, to $32.10 in trading Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-tribune29nov29,1,1807463.story?coll=la-headlines-business
Tribune delays decision on asset sale to next year
Bidding is said to be tepid. Executives say they need more time to consider all proposals.
By James Rainey
Times Staff Writer

November 29, 2006

Tribune Co. announced Tuesday that it would take longer than originally planned to review buyout proposals in the wake of what observers described as tepid bidding and investors' demands for more detailed information about the company.

The Chicago-based media company — owner of the Los Angeles Times and KTLA-TV Channel 5 — now expects to complete its review sometime in the first quarter of next year rather than by the end of 2006, as it had announced.

Tribune Chief Executive Dennis J. FitzSimons said in a statement that the extra time was needed "to ensure thorough consideration of all proposals." He added, "This process has generated strong interest from a number of parties."

But others suggested that lukewarm bids had increased the chances that Tribune would be sold in parts or that it would be reduced in size and taken private by current management.

"I think Tribune management and the Chicago-centric directors of the company intend for it to come through this fairly whole," veteran newspaper analyst John Morton said.

The Chandler family of California pushed Tribune into play in June, when its three representatives on the company's board protested what they called "disastrous" management decisions and an expensive stock buyback plan.

Since Tribune began in September to explore alternatives, nonbinding indications of interest have been submitted by Los Angeles billionaires Eli Broad and Ron Burkle; the nation's largest newspaper operator, Gannett Inc.; and several private equity firms and consortia.

The bids reportedly would offer Tribune shareholders little premium over recent share prices. The stock closed up 32 cents Tuesday at $32.10 before the company announced it had extended the auction.

"Clearly bids are not coming in as high as expected, so Tribune needs more time to figure out what to do," said one person involved in the auction who asked not to be named because the process was confidential.

Representatives of some of the private investment firms are concerned about whether they could find enough cost cuts or new revenue sources to allow a resale of Tribune assets in the time frame they prefer.

"The question we have is: Is there an opportunity for cost cutting here or are things already being operated as tightly as they can be?" said an advisor to one of the investment firms who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the deal.

A Tribune executive said the additional time was needed because of "incredibly complex" issues surrounding a potential deal, such as taxes, antitrust limitations and uncertain future revenue. A would-be buyer of one Tribune property was more skeptical, saying it was likely that none of the bids would be high enough to warrant the sale of the whole company. "Then they'll be forced to take the next step — and that's a sale of the individual assets," predicted the potential bidder, who declined to be named for fear of alienating the company's leaders.

Tribune has thus far been unwilling to field formal offers for individual properties, which include the Chicago Cubs, 10 daily papers and 23 TV stations.

james.rainey@latimes.com

Times staff writer Thomas S. Mulligan contributed to this report.

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