Dec 21, 2007 6:02 pm US/Central
Zell Solicits Ideas For Change at Tribune
CHICAGO (AP) ―
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Billionaire investor Sam Zell made a successful bid to buy Tribune Co. April 2, 2007.
AP
New Tribune Co. Chairman and CEO Sam Zell said Friday he's "open to anything" as he and his new management team decide how to overhaul the media conglomerate, but declined to reveal specific plans for any changes he has in mind.
A day after the company went private in the $8.2 billion buyout that gave him control, Zell gave another strong endorsement of newspapers' future and said Tribune likely will add to its 20,000 employees over the next year despite fears he might make big cuts.
"I'm in no way, shape or form prepared to give up on newspapers," the real estate magnate said in a videotaped interview with reporters from the Tribune-owned Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times posted on the company's Web site. "I think newspapers can and will be viable."
Exactly how the Tribune's stable of newspapers and TV stations will change remains unknown -- even to the new boss, he indicated.
"I think we'll have more employees a year from now than we have today," Zell said. "I'll also tell you that I think it's unlikely that all the deck chairs will be in the same place."
While emphasizing that "change is what it's all about," he was reluctant to disclose what actions may be taken besides reiterating that the historical newspaper model isn't working.
"It would be arrogant on our part to come here and say, 'OK, tomorrow here's what we're going to do,"' he said. "Maybe less arrogant 60 days from now. But I think that you will see even over the next 60 days slow change -- and that's very positive."
Zell said he already had received a couple of hundred messages from staff on the new "Talk to Sam" link he had just set up.
Some Chicagoans reacted negatively Friday to Zell's confirmation a day earlier that the company is exploring the possibility of selling the naming rights to Wrigley Field, which he may sell separately from the Chicago Cubs in order to fetch a higher price for the assets.
"Is nothing sacred anymore?" one angry fan wrote on an online forum Friday.
The Cubs sale, which Zell wants to complete by the start of the baseball season, is on hold while Tribune discusses a possible deal for Wrigley with the Illinois State Facilities Authority, which could use naming rights to help pay for the purchase.
Even if Wrigley gets a new corporate name, however, many Cubs fans are likely to stick with the old one.
"Wrigley Field is the Mecca of baseball, and I think everyone would still call it Wrigley," Kate Szczudlo, who tends bar at the popular Murphy's Bleachers bar beyond the stadium's right-field wall, told Crain's Chicago Business.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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