First article:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...,527033.column
'Wait 'til next year" has been the rallying cry of long-suffering Chicago Cubs fans for a century, but Tribune Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Sam Zell isn't prepared to wait much longer to sell the ballclub.
Tribune Co., which owns the Cubs as well as this newspaper, announced more than a year ago that it intended to unload the team. The sale has been stalled, however, by efforts to work out a separate transaction with the state of Illinois for Wrigley Field, the Cubs' home, which has kept the company from releasing the ballclub's financial books to Major League Baseball-approved bidders.
Zell said in a conference call with creditors Thursday he now expects the confidential Cubs figures to be released to potential buyers in the next 10 days or so and a sale to be completed "sometime this year," regardless of what happens in ongoing negotiations with the state over Wrigley, or whatever the park winds up being called.
"You ought to read the latest newspaper because it's all out there," Zell said, noting there continues to be "steady progress" in talks for a ballpark deal. "We're trying to do what is the optimum transaction with the Illinois Sports Authority while simultaneously running with a book on the Cubs going both ways, with or without the sports authority."
The interest in the Cubs goes beyond baseball, of course.
Zell, who led a heavily leveraged deal to take Tribune Co. private last year, acknowledged revenue trends have been "significantly worse" than expected. Broadcasting has fared better than projected, but newspapers are suffering double-digit advertising revenue declines, tightening the margins needed to pay back loans.
Tribune has a $650 million debt obligation due Dec. 4, as well as about $250 million in medium-term notes due in 2008. The plan is to satisfy those obligations by drawing down a line of credit.
"From where we sit right now, it doesn't appear that we will have trouble meeting our commitments going forward," Zell said, yet he noted the original intent to keep Tribune's assets intact may go by the boards.
"The significant erosion in the first quarter has certainly put that plan into some question, and we are forced to consider the possible divestiture of some of our assets," he said.
He didn't specify which assets, although, when asked, he acknowledged reports the company's Long Island, N.Y., daily, Newsday, is being eyed by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., which owns the New York Post, and Mort Zuckerman, owner of the New York Daily News, among others.
"We have reached no conclusions with anybody at this juncture, and we are discussing whether or not that does or does not make sense," Zell said.
Yet Randy Michaels, Tribune's chief executive of interactive and broadcasting, said he and Zell aren't the ones who can fix Tribune's revenue woes. "The only people who can solve the revenue problem are the [sales]people out there on the streets who can decide whether to make another call at 4 o'clock or not," he said.
In other words, it's a whole new ballgame.
Peacock feathers: WMAQ-Ch. 5 boss Larry Wert's elevation to president of NBC Local Media's Central and Western region, overseeing not just WMAQ but NBC-owned and -operated stations in Burbank, Calif.; San Francisco; San Diego; and Dallas, is also a boost for Frank Whittaker, who adds responsibilities as Channel 5 station manager in addition to being vice president of news.
Additionally, Jan Jaros, director of broadcast operations and engineering, and Toni Falvo, director of research, programming and press, become vice presidents.
Suburban angst: The Arlington Heights-based Daily Herald, which until August had never experienced layoffs, has undergone another round of paperwide cuts.
Herald managers did not respond to requests for comment, but Doug Ray, president and chief executive of parent Paddock Publications, said in a memo Thursday that "every person whose job was eliminated has contributed, and the layoff in no way reflects on them personally."
here is a blurb on the original article in the quick hits column
http://www.suntimes.com/sports/quick...1hit06.article
Tribune Co. head honcho (Quick Hits thinks that's his title) Sam Zell has a late-August deadline for selling the Cubs. Or the day newspapers start running their magic number for clinching the National League Central title. Whichever comes first.
zip: 345140 
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