Tribune Co. chairman to resign
By Leah McBride Mensching, Wednesday 19 December 2007 at 23:45 :: Management :: #999 :: rss
Tribune Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Dennis FitzSimons will step down from his post at the end of the year, immediately after Chicago businessman Sam Zell takes over the company, the Los Angeles Times, a Tribune-owned newspaper, reported late Tuesday.
The official announcement was made Wednesday, and the handoff to Zell, who will take the company private in the $8.2 billion deal, is expected to go through this week, pending approval from Tribune's investment banks, the New York Times reported Wednesday.
Zell and FitzSimons worked together to design Tribune's transformation from a publicly traded company to a non-profit, which will have stock held by an employee stock ownership plan, according to the New York Times.
The deal to take the company private was announced more than eight months ago, and analysts and bankers are still voicing concerns over the company's ability to undertake the amount of debt involved in the deal.
Zell has stated that once he is at the helm of the Tribune Company, he will sell the Chicago Cubs baseball team and Wrigley Field. However, he will not sell the company's major newspapers, like the Chicago Tribune or Los Angeles Times.
Tribune owns 14 newspapers, as well as 12 TV stations, a radio station, production studios and other properties.
“The company's greatest strength has always been the talent and dedication of its 20,000 employees. I thank them for their commitment to serving our readers, viewers, listeners and advertisers,” FitzSimons said in a statement, according to the Los Angeles Times.
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