Michael Oneal

A large group of prominent investment firms sought to wrest control of the Tribune Co. bankruptcy case Tuesday in a move that threatens to intensify a pitched battle between senior and junior creditors.

Signaling that infighting among creditors is bogging down reorganization efforts, Tribune Co. on Friday asked a U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware to give its management team until March 31 to craft a plan to exit Chapter 11 without interference from other parties.

The US Bankruptcy Court trustee and three unions representing Tribune Co. workers raised objections to the Chicago media company's plan to pay tens of millions of dollars in performance bonuses.

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 Chicago Cubs are set to change hands, with the billionaire Ricketts family emerging as the favored bidder to buy the team from Tribune Co for a landmark price of $900 million.

A month into its Chapter 11 bankruptcy case, Chicago-based Tribune Co. is beginning to form a strategy for holding the company's major assets together, not tearing them apart, sources close to the situation said.

Tribune Co. passed an early hurdle in its Chapter 11 bankruptcy case Thursday when a U.S. bankruptcy judge signed a motion authorizing the continuation of a short-term financing arrangement worth $300 million.