Tribune Co. To Spin Off LA Times, Other Newspaper Assets
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — The owner of the Los Angeles Times will spin off the newspaper and its other publishing assets into a separate unit, according to reports Wednesday.
In addition to the Times, the new Tribune Publishing Co. would include the Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun, Sun Sentinel (South Florida), and three other daily papers, according to the Times and The Hollywood Reporter.
The company's other assets — which include real estate holdings and ownership stakes in several Internet sites — would not be part of the move.
The proposed separation is designed to maximize shareholder value through the spin-off of Tribune's publishing assets to an independent company and the tax-free distribution of shares in that company to the stockholders of Tribune, according to a company statement.
Each of the two companies resulting from the split would have "revenues in excess of $1 billion and significant operating cash flow," said Peter Liguori, Tribune's president and chief executive officer.
While no specific timeline was offered, it was estimated that the details for the proposal would emerge over the "next nine to 12 months," according to the Reporter.
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