News Corp backs $7.6bn bid for US publisher Tribune

by Alex Donohue, Brand Republic 24-Jan-07, 09:00

LONDON - News Corporation is to bid for the Tribune Company, which owns The LA Times and the Chicago Tribune, in a joint $7.6bn move with the Chandler family, which owns a slice of the US media group.

The involvement of News Corp contradicts previous claims by News Corp chief operating officer Peter Chernin that it had no interest in the business.

The Tribune Company, which was put up for sale in September, has attracted interest from News Corp chairman and chief executive Rupert Murdoch, who is understood to be interested in acquiring a share of the company in order to streamline production costs at The New York Post.

However, US competition laws would prevent News Corp from owning two New York titles -- The New York Post and Tribune-owned Newsday -- and it is reported that Murdoch has no plans to acquire the Tribune Company outright.

Attempts by senior management at the Tribune Company to make the group more profitable have led to a number of cost-cutting exercises and led to the decision to sell the business.

The Chandler family, which already owns 20% of the Tribune Company, said on January 18 that it had lodged a bid for the group in the region of $7.6bn (£3.8bn), with a view to enhancing the profitability of the its 23 TV stations.

The Tribune Company has already attracted interest from Ron Burkle and Eli Broad, as well as the Carlyle Group, but it is not known whether any formal bids have ever been discussed.

There has been separate interest in parts of the Tribune empire. US media mogul David Geffen had previously bid $2bn for The LA Times. However, the co-founder of DreamWorks SKG has had his bid rejected.

Geffen sold his Jackson Pollock painting No.5 in November to a private collector for $140m, raising speculation that he might use the funds as part of a bid to acquire The LA Times.

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