Tribune Extends Sale Decision Deadline

TRIBUNE EXTENDS SALE DECISION DEADLINE
[SOURCE: Associated Press]
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. The company 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. The company also announced that it had received FCC approval to sell WCWN-TV in Albany, N.Y., and WLVI-TV in Boston and expects to close both deals in December. Both sales were part of a performance improvement plan Tribune put into place prior to the strategic review process. To date, Tribune has sold or agreed to sell about $450 million of non-core assets.
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/061128/tribune.html?.v=1

* Tribune Extends Strategic Review Policy Into 1st Qtr. '07
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=10034...

* Why Tribune wants more time to review buyout proposals
James Rainey hears that lukewarm bids had increased the chances that the company would be sold in parts or that it would be reduced in size and taken private by current management. "Clearly bids are not coming in as high as expected, so Tribune needs more time to figure out what to do," says one person involved in the auction.
http://www.latimes.com/business/investing/la-fi-tribune29nov29,1,5905498...

* Gannett may be interested in Trib because of CareerBuilder
If Gannett were to take over Tribune, its CareerBuilder stake would give Gannett 85% ownership of the asset, which would allow it to carry CareerBuilder on its income statement instead of treating it as an unconsolidated minority position. "But a Gannett bid would also amount to betting big on newspapers, and bidders all along have said that the falloff in newspaper industry performance has made it difficult to predict what papers like the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune are really worth."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0611290131nov29,0,6091136.sto...