US: Tribune buyback plan splits newspaper families
The Tribune Co. $2 billion stock buyback plan has triggered both intense speculation about the future prospects of the company and analysis about the broader state of the US newspaper industry. As a CJR article notes, combined with the Knight Ridder break-up, Tribune changes could signal the “decentralization of American journalism.”
But at the same time, there is a center to the Tribune story: its two reigning — and now feuding — families, the Chandlers and the McCormicks.
A New York Times article today delves into the family histories. Harry Chandler built the Los Angeles Times, while Colonel Robert R. McCormick did the same for the Chicago Tribune. When Tribune acquired the Times Mirror Company in 2000, the families came under the same media umbrella. Their legacies are now in the midst of controversy on how to save the financially collapsing Tribune Co.
And they are divided, seemingly irreconcilably, about the buyback plan. The NYT article: “At stake in the dispute is not just money, but possibly control over the company’s direction.”
The three Chandler members are resolutely opposed, saying they cannot support a buyback without a broader plan for the company’s growth. The McCormick Foundation has already struck a deal with Tribune to sell back 25 percent of its stock to the company.
The tension will build until June 26, the date of the share auction. As planned, the buyback would give Tribune Co. CEO Dennis FitzSimons more leverage against the Chandlers. But if the Chandlers do not sell back any stock, they will remain the largest stockholder in Tribune Co., which controls 11 daily papers and 26 television stations.
Source: CJR, the New York Times
0 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: US: Tribune buyback plan splits newspaper families.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.editorsweblog.org/mt/mt-tb.cgi/4199
I quit believing a long time ago in declarations, signatures and in the "people power".
I still believe though that this action has been conceived for the unification of Europe, for removing the brakes that keep Romania hanging on a wrong path, marching with an incompetent president who, with his shameful face and attitude, displaying all around the World a warrior and at the same time an anti-European stance, mocks at the decent Romanian individuals, at the very national interest of this people and not at last at the global peace, at the dignity of this planet.
Hopefully there is a real chance for removing the pest which has transformed the Balkans and Romania with preponderence into the black hole of the continent.
Success in your action!
~Vera