Revealed: Tribune Co.'s new name
Tribune Co. will hold its first annual meeting in seven years in Los Angeles next week and ask shareholders to approve changing the company's name to Tribune Media Co.
Chicago-based Tribune is convening the July 14 meeting just weeks ahead of abreak-up of the company into broadcast and publishing entities. The broadcast company will own Tribune's 42 local TV stations and the WGN America cable network, plus its real estate assets, while the publishing company gets Tribune's eight daily newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times, plus a new$350 million debt load in the transaction.
At the annual meeting, Los Angeles Times Publisher and former Tribune CEO Eddy Hartenstein will relinquish his seat on the parent company's board, according to aJune 13 letter about the meeting sent to shareholders. New York Public Radio CEO Laura Walker is a new candidate for the seven-member board.
The last time Tribune shareholders gathered for a meeting was in 2007 when they approved a plan by real estate titan Sam Zell to take the company private in an $8 billion leveraged buyout. A year later the company buckled under the weight of debt as the financial crisis set in and the publishing industry suffered an outflow of advertising revenue, forcing Tribune to file for bankruptcy protection.
New shareholders took control of the company when Tribuneemerged from four years of bankruptcy at the end of 2012, with Los Angeles private equity firm Oaktree Capital Management LP taking the biggest stake. Private equity firms typically cash in on their investments through a through a public offering of stock or a sale of the company within a few years.
The publishing unit, to be named Tribune Publishing Company after the spinoff, is already scheduled to have its shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TPUB once the corporate split is completed next month. Mr. Hartenstein is slated to be a member Tribune Publishing's board, along with five other directors, including newCEO Jack Griffin.
Shares of the parent Tribune are also traded, but only on an over-the-counter basis and not on a major exchange, for now. Tribune CEO Peter Liguori will remain as CEO of the broadcast company.
