Tribune Crumbles

The Tribune Company will celebrate the Cub's second century of losing... by declaring bankruptcy. (Story link to Washington Post)

About time.

Tribune could have been bigger and better than Time Warner.
However upper management was feared and hated in the ranks, and they ran the place like a small market newspaper that owned a couple TV stations. No one is even aware of an org chart in that place.

Then here comes Zell! Zell came in to make it private - the fools working there welcomed him with open arms! That is, until he pulled his axe out and started trimming all the fat in every department. The staff was shocked -shocked!- that their new pal Zell was cutting people and departments! How dare he!?

On top of it, Zell found a way to dumb down the Chicago Tribune! Quite a task. Even the USA Today blushes at the new coloring book format.

I hope they're not able to re-org and they just go away like Pan Am...

Tell Zell, I'm Unemployed

Laid-Off Newsmen Take To Blogging About Being Laid-Off Cry-Baby Newsmen

Gnomish, Harley-riding media Methuselah and Tribune Co. boss Sam Zell inspires a TAD bit of resentment amongst his minions, mainly for doing things like laying them all off while cussing them out. But his ex-Tribune employees are now striking back—on a blog! Ooohhhh.... Prepare to be hoisted on the new media petard of broke, grizzled newsmen, Mr. Zell the multimillionaire!

The blog, TellZell.com, what got a sympathy writeup in the NYT this weekend. And while it has some fire in it, it's ultimately a sad relic of the once-mighty newspaper industry. A recent post, for example, contains a bunch of farewell letters from Tribune staffers:

"Perhaps I hid behind the smallness of my cog's place in the big machine here, or the fact that I worked in what is perhaps the best photo journalism department in the nation kept me from feeling too worried, but with the loss of talent over the last year or two and the seeming lack of any vision in regard to the future of true journalism (other then to hold to the cliff's edge for as long as possible), I feel that I need to say something, however insignificant it may be.*" (*yes, it is)

"The Times literally changed my life. I came here as a musician who occasionally wrote and I'm leaving as a guy looking for work as a writer (not that I, the son of a composer, could ever stop being a musician). I'm proud of having contributed to this paper."

This is a fantastic site of crying crybabies who thought that going private was a great idea - and they're actually SURPRISED that they're getting canned... and in the site they're complaining and fearful of all the Strike Breaking IT hard ware coming in to take the rest of their jobs.

(these things are called networked computers, just so you're in on it)

The best part? Its chance of impacting Sam Zell is... well, there's no chance! Bhahahahhahahaaahhahaaaaa HHAHAhahahahahhahhaaaaa!

[TellZell.com]

Chicago Tribune

I've been seriously considering ending my subscription to the Chicago Tribune.

It's a pretty crappy paper - and I'm laughing everytime Zell plans on capitalizing on the pieces of his purchase. Specifically, last week he announced that he's considering selling the Tribune Tower in Chicago and the LA Times building in LA.

Zell means Sell - The folks at the Tribune are just now starting to get the picture.

Zell also announced that he doesn't really find the need for all these "reporters" which is equally hilarious.

In the meantime - on page 2, Saturday Metro - Bottom Left hand corner -- a place reserved for stories to die, and go completely ignored - "NRA sues Chicago, 3 suburbs to repeal their firearms bans" A day after the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision striking down a gun ban in Washington, the National Rifle Association on Friday sued Chicago and three suburbs to have their firearm bans repealed.

The separate federal suits by the NRA target gun bans in Evanston, Morton Grove and Oak Park in addition to Chicago.

On Thursday, the Second Amendment Foundation and the Illinois State Rifle Association also sued Chicago to overturn its 26-year gun ban." (I found the rest online - linkage)

Why bury that story?

Oh, probably because on Friday the editorial was to Repeal the Second Amendment.
This is worth reading just for the 18 pages of comments from readers.
(link to that)

Actually, after thinking it through, there IS enough comedy in there I should keep the subscription.

SOLD, American - who wants the Cub$?

Cub$ sold, (pause) and now back on the market!

Tribune, after months of pleading for someone with a checkbook to be bought out, settled on real estate mogul Sam Zell.

Because he owns stake in the White Sox, he will have to sell the Cub$, after the 2007 season - which began today, with a loss. Someone ought to keep track of that...

Some so-called 'analysts' have estimated that the Cubs could fetch $600 million or more. Perhaps even more if you were able to factor in a winning team if they were to consistently get into the playoffs.

Remember, the Tribune bought the team in 1981 for $20.5 million. However, this was 1981 dollars, and you couldn't even buy a couple hockey teams and a new stadium for that paltry sum.

Its strength as a sports franchise — and the lure of potentially steering them to their first championship in a century — has attracted the interest of many potential buyers. Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban, actor Bill Murray and columnist George Will are among those rumored to have interest, along with numerous Chicago business figures. Uh, yeah, and I'll keep holding my breath. Turning blue...

Bottom line? This is an interesting development, if anything it prolongs the agony of having Tribune employees continue to oversee the team for a year - and yet another distraction, or an excuse for when they come in 4th place after spending $325 million dollars.

Well, not their money anyway - the poor sucker who buys the team's money.

Cub Killre

It has been a while since I last posted. I have been out of town and the "old ball and chain" (as she likes to be called) had some surgery (everything is fine). I will probably not post again for a week or so (funeral) but this was something that I felt I had to comment on before it happened.

Killre's abandonment of the Cubs seems to have the Tribune Company reeling. Yesterday, Bloomberg reported that the Tribune company was close to accepting Sam Zell's $8,000,000,000 offer. I could have written 8 billion but the amount of pre-decimal zeros in that number is crazy. According to Bloomberg:

Zell said this month that he plans to keep the company's television stations and newspapers intact, including the Chicago Tribune and stakes in the Food Network and CareerBuilder Inc., a Web site that lists job openings and resumes of job-seekers.

"My intention is not to break it up,'' Zell, 65, said in a March 12 interview.

Notice that no where in this quote does Sam say that he plans to keep any part of the Cubs. This would be bad business. Although profitable, the Cubs would be an awful nice way to get some of his money back fast. And with the emotional investment many have with the team (even businessmen) possibly even more money than it is worth. Much more than it is worth if you ask Killre.

So what would happen to the Cubs if the sale happens? According to Reuter's News Service:

A more realistic scenario would be a sale of the Cubs and Tribune's 31 percent stake in the Food Network, in addition to rolling over the McCormick Trust's equity stake and potentially their proceeds from the dividend, estimated at $548 million, into the LBO financing, the bank said. A sale of the [C]ubs is valued between $450 million and $500 million and the company's stake in the Food Network is valued around $700 million to $750 million.

Almost 2 billion back in the pocket right away! Holy Cow! But the article states that the most realistic option on the Trib's table right now is for "a "self-help" option, which could include less leverage and a smaller dividend than what Zell is proposing, as well as the spin-off of Tribune's television group."

So what happens to the Cubbies if the Tribune tries this "self-help" idea? Well, the Trib would likely sell off it's television holdings and become a full-fledged tree-killing news service. Will the Cub's "business model"* continue without the combination of paper, TV, and radio? Maybe not. No matter what happens it looks like the Cubs could have a new owner in the next 1 to 3 years. Hey, hey!

Of course, there is the most likely option that no one seems to talk about. Imagine, if you will, a dad holding hands with his son, staring at his ticket stub, just trying to find Section 4 brought to you by Coca-Cola, Row Hummer H3, Seat Spiderman 3 in the Olive Garden Terrace.