Tribune Co. and its creditors are in the early stages of negotiating a plan of reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court that sources said probably would transfer control of the troubled media conglomerate from Chicago billionaire Sam Zell to a group of large banks and investors that holds $8.6 billion in senior debt. The plan centers on a debt-for-equity swap that probably would give the senior lenders a large majority ownership stake in the reorganized Chicago media firm. The plan would wipe out a $90-million warrant Zell negotiated as part of his $8.2-billion deal to take the company private in 2007. The warrant gives the Tribune chairman the right to buy about 40% of the company for $500 million and is the basis of his control over Tribune, which owns the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and other papers and broadcast media. Zell also holds a $250-million note representing a loan he made to the company as part of the going-private transaction. That note, however, is near the bottom of the hierarchy of claims in Tribune's Chapter 11 bankruptcy case
