Tribune Co. preparing to print in red ink, according to WSJ

Tribune Co. is preparing for a possible bankruptcy-protection filing as soon as this week, according to people familiar with the matter, opening a new front of trouble for the newspaper industry.

 

Not good... that would void all the union contracts, wouldn't it?

 

This is a real Holy Shit. Wonder what kind of memo Abrams is going to write about this ...

 

Are there any union contracts at Tribune Co.? And no, they're not necessarily voided if they do exist. That's up to the bankruptcy judge.

 

They should have cards that let newspaper reporters drink free at every bar in the country.

Jesus... it just keeps getting worse.

 

This news was foreordained the second Zell bought the thing. That deal was perfectly designed to be sunk by any bad macrofinancial/economic news, let alone a worldwide panic followed by recession.

 

Most of the company is non-union, but not all. Several papers have unions.

 

PaidContent.org called it in June:

http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-newspaper-roundup-tribune-bankruptcy-speculation-gannet-nytco-may-numbe/

 

OK, this is now your holy shit moment.
And if I say now that Sam Zell should get some loathsome tropical disease that makes his flesh melt and his eyeballs wither, can I also say it after he dies?

 

If only Zell were alone. That same Greed is Good mentality is killing all the chains at different speeds. If the business model for those papers fails, what happens to the actual product?

 

http://www.latimes.com/news/la-fi-tribune8-2008dec08,0,854112.story

 

I think Baltimore is the only Guild paper in the chain. Not that it'll matter in a deal like this.