Chandler Family Seeks Part of Tribune

FAMILY WITH BIG STAKE SEEKS PART OF TRIBUNE CO
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Andrew Ross Sorkin & Katharine Seelye]
The Chandler family, which long owned The Los Angeles Times, has begun holding talks with several private equity firms about forming a consortium to bid on part of the Tribune Company. The talks come six months after the Chandlers pressed to put the Tribune up for sale. The family, which became a large shareholder in Tribune when it sold Times Mirror to the company, has been critical of Tribune’s management and its slumping stock price. Frustrated with the muted interest that the auction of Tribune has so far generated, the Chandlers are exploring the idea of leading a private equity consortium as a way to either create value in a leveraged buyout of the assets or to possibly start a bidding war. Practically no newspaper companies, with the exception of the Gannett Company, have expressed interest in Tribune, which in addition to The Los Angeles Times owns The Chicago Tribune, Newsday and other newspapers, as well as two dozen television stations and the Chicago Cubs. A few private equity firms have submitted bids that were much lower than anticipated.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/13/business/media/13tribune.html
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