Tribute Company Meltdown

The board of the Tribune Company voted unanimously on Thursday to restructure two partnerships that may lead the way for a possible sale or breakup of the company. The decision comes on the heels of a protracted dispute between shareholders and the editorial side of two of the company’s most high-profile assets: the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times.

Staff writers at the Los Angeles Times report that Thursday’s board meeting named a committee whose purpose would be to study “alternatives for creating additional value for shareholders.”

Tribune Co.’s stock has been spliced in half since its $8 billion purchase of Times Mirror in 2000. The move was criticized as a poorly timed investment in the newspaper industry at the exact moment of its slowdown. Pressure from shareholders to spin off assets has been mounting for some time now. California’s Chandler family, the major stockholders, issued a public statement in June demanding that the Tribune spin off some of their television stations.