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

That is simply, utterly incredible.

 

If that really is true, I'm utterly and completely fucked.

 

OK, you need to look into it further.

One person referenced was Mark Willes, who is still owed $11.2 million and is referred to as an "unsecured creditor." Apparently, he might be waiting for his money for a long time.

But it sounded like it was these big ticket guys who weren't going to get paid soon. I have no way of knowing from what I've read -- one way or another -- whether a rank-and-file person collecting severance pay is going to be in the same boat or not.

I hope it isn't so, but you'll have to check with that hotline.

 

Some building will be burnt down.

 

Can't you just imagine how long it'd take you to get through to anybody at that phone number today?

As for Mark Willes, please, don't cry for him. He left Times-Mirror with a $60 million golden parachute...$60 million...He ought to be able to manage just fine on the $49 million he's already gotten, and, in my opinion, he and his severance package just about mark when all the problems really started for the Times and Tribune Company.

 

What will it do to Tribune's value when angry ex-employees burn down Tribune Tower?

 

Singleton to the, um, rescue:

http://californiauncovered.typepad.com/index/2008/12/tribune-bankruptcy-points-to-new-business-mode-.html

 

Acc to the NYT...those who took buyouts won't get paid.

A memo on a Web site accessible only to Los Angeles Times employees said the company would stop making payments to former workers who took buyouts. It was not clear whether the company would resume those payments, or if the employees would join the long list of unsecured creditors

 

The whole ESOP seems like a house of cards.

Zell used very little of his own money to finance the Trib takeover.

He's always said that technically the employees own the company through the ESOP.

Well, guess who's responsible for paying the bills? The owners.

Zell's saying that payroll, pensions and 401Ks are all safe, but this is smelling more and more like an Enron situation-- not that bad, obviously, because it doesn't seem like laws were technically broken...

But I don't think the bankruptcy court is going to pay much heed to what Zell wants to do. They're going to take the money where they can get it and pay the creditors.

 

Then who the fuck tells the "owners" they are laid off?

And at what point --- if ever --- can a bankruptcy judge tell Zell that "before you devalue this company any further, YOUR personal holdings [worth $4B+] are going to be used to help satisfy this debt." ?

 

Posted an hour ago:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/business/media/09tribune.html?ref=media

 

Bingo.

I want to know who allowed this deal to go through in the first place. Why in the world are Zell, Singleton, et al, alowed to buy these papers/take over these companies if they're leveraged so much?