Angelo Gordon angles for influence at Tribune

A New York investment firm that's shaking up newspapers across the country has maneuvered into an influential position at Tribune Company.

Angelo Gordon & Co. snapped up discounted Tribune debt that will convert into equity in the Chicago-based media concern's reorganization. It's the fourth stake the firm has taken in a U.S. newspaper company emerging from bankruptcy protection. While the firm's intentions for Tribune and its 12 papers aren't clear, it's playing an active role elsewhere. Angelo Gordon led new owners of the Minneapolis StarTribune in ousting the board and publisher and demanding additional job cuts after the company came out of bankruptcy proceedings in September. At Freedom Communications Inc., which owns the Orange County Register in California, it replaced the board. It's an "aggressive" firm that isn't reluctant to toss out managers it considers incompetent, says Dan Wikel, a restructuring adviser at Huron Consulting Group Inc. in Chicago.