Diane Mermigas takes a look at the Chicago Tribune Media Group as they hammer “out a sustainable new business model for imploding big city newspapers.”
Peel back the layers of contentious bankruptcy, scandalous management and Sam Zell’s 2007 leveraged buyout gone bad at the Tribune Co. and there is an intriguing story about media survival and the larger reinvention beginning to resonate within the beleaguered publishing industry.
Although much of her report focuses on the company’s recent successes, she also points out that:
Even after it emerges from bankruptcy and passes to new owners in 2011, there is an outside chance the Tribune Co. could eventually face an asset split to appease contentious creditors who have pummeled the company, some of its former key executives and Zell with lawsuits.
