Tribune Co. CEO to Resign After Buyout
(12-19) 10:05 PST Chicago (AP) —
Tribune Co. Chairman and CEO Dennis FitzSimons will step down as soon as the $8.2 billion buyout of the media conglomerate closes and will leave the company at the end of the year, Tribune said Wednesday.
The announcement came on the eve of the day Tribune hopes the transaction will formally close, following reports its lenders were giving last-minute scrutiny to the deal.
FitzSimons’ eventual departure had been expected since real estate magnate Sam Zell agreed in April to lead the buyout and take Tribune private. Zell is to become chairman once the deal closes, with $315 million invested in the company and the right to buy 40 percent of its shares.
FitzSimons, 57, will leave Tribune with more than $32 million in severance and stock holdings, based on an analysis of corporate disclosure statements filed by the company.
“It’s the right time for this transition and for Tribune’s 20,000 employees to hear a single voice from the top,” he said in an e-mail to staff shortly before the announcement was made.
Tribune shares initially fell more than 6 percent on investors’ nervousness about a potential last-minute snag in banks signing off on the buyout, based on a Chicago Tribune report that, citing anonymous sources, said the lenders were questioning executives and scouring company records. But the stock recovered following the announcement that FitzSimons is leaving, an apparent signal that the closing was on track.
Shares were down $1.24, or 3.7 percent, to $32.07 in afternoon trading Wednesday after trading as low as $30.81 earlier in the session.
Company spokesman Gary Weitman did not immediately respond to queries about the closing.
Tribune owns nine daily newspapers, 23 television stations and the Chicago Cubs baseball team, which it has agreed to sell under terms set by Zell. The buyout will result in the publicly traded company becoming private.
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