Oh Zell!

The Los Angeles Times parent company Tribune filed for bankruptcy protection today.

The Chicago-based company, owned by real estate magnate Sam Zell, is looking to restructure payments on $12 billion in debt.

A snippet from the LA Times story:

Tribune Co. directors approved the action to seek Chapter 11 protection in a meeting today, saying they want to restructure payments to banks and other creditors, following real estate magnate Sam Zell's purchase of the company last year.

The Chicago-based company had roughly $300 million cash on hand, more than enough to make a $70-million payment due today. But executives reportedly were unable to persuade lenders to undertake a broader restructuring of the debt.

Among other obligations, a $512-million principal payment related to Zell's leveraged buyout is due in June.

Zell calls it a "perfect storm" in a news release:

"Factors beyond our control have created a perfect storm -- a precipitous decline in revenue and a tough economy coupled with a credit crisis that makes it extremely difficult to support our debt."

A memo from the big boss reportedly went out to staff this morning lamenting that they had to learn of the BK possibility on the news last night (those pesky reporters!), and reminded everyone that nothing about this should affect their work. Nothing to see here. Go about your business. Don't you worry one bit.

— TJ Sullivan in LA

LA Times Parent Trying to Avoid Bankruptcy

A story posted Sunday to the New York Times Web site says bankruptcy advisers have been hired by Tribune Co., the Sam-Zell-owned company that's done a great job of eliminating nearly every reason to read the Los Angeles Times. Of course, news of this effort to avoid BK didn't come from Tribune ... The NY Times attributed it to "people briefed on the matter."

Tribune has hired bankruptcy advisers as the ailing newspaper company seeks to stave off a potential bankruptcy filing, people briefed on the matter said.

The newspaper, which was taken private last year by billionaire investor Samuel Zell, has hired the investment bank Lazard and the law firm Sidley Austin, these people said. Tribune has been hobbled by debt related to that sale last year, which has been compounded by the growing drought of advertising for newspapers.

— TJ Sullivan in LA

Off the Rails on a Crazy Train!

We've all either worked for someone like this, or known someone who has — a boss whose career soundtrack is an endless loop of the song Crazy Train. Now, thanks to a hot mic at MSNBC, just such a member of management was caught on tape, blue language and all. The footage posted at Live Leak is must-see Internet viewing, if only to confirm you and/or your friend aren't the only ones who have to suffer someone like this.

— TJ Sullivan in LA

Rocky Mountain Low

Send some good thoughts Denver's way today. Our friends at the Rocky Mountain News just found out they're for sale.

Like newspapers through the nation, the Rocky has suffered from a weak advertising market and as readers increasingly turn to the Internet to get their news. Scripps last month told Wall Street that it had eliminated 400 jobs across its newspaper division and suspended its dividend in the face of advertising weakness.

The company expects the Rocky to lose roughly $15 million this year.

* UPDATE: The Official Announcement.

— TJ Sullivan in LA

Black Wednesday: No Bailout in Bookland

They're calling it Black Wednesday ...

The Los Angeles Times Jacket Copy blog posts a few of the details and some links for more info about the economic impact the recession has had on the book publishing industry.

Boy, would I hate to be some sorry scribbler shopping his novel around NYC right about now ...

From the LAT:

The New York publishing world, which has had its own shivers of layoffs, got seriously rattled by major announcements today by Random House, Simon & Schuster and Thomas Nelson. Publishers Weekly editor Sarah Nelson is not the only one calling it Black Wednesday. Thomas Nelson, a Christian publisher, laid off 54 people. Senior staff are leaving Random House in a "long anticipated restructuring," but the company isn't calling the departures layoffs. What happened at Simon & Schuster were layoffs -- 35 people were let go. Understanding that this is bad news, Nelson, in a blog post, still keeps her chin up: "I don't really worry, in the long run, about publishing itself."

Full post is at Jacket Copy.

— TJ Sullivan in LA

The Volt Bolts

Photo by TJ Sullivan

KNBC journalist Patrick Healy reports at NBC Los Angeles that the LA Auto Show bid a hasty (and early) goodbye to GM's Volt, the electric vehicle that my Detroit auto-industry-employed friends and family say is sure to save the company:

Had it been purloined in the middle of the night by a rival carmaker? Or worse yet, by a foreign agent? Nope. Turns out GM itself moved the Volt in response to a higher calling.

"They need it back in Washington," was the explanation offered on the show floor by a Chevrolet "Product Specialist." Under further questioning by show visitor Bob Hackl, the product specialist explained that GM top brass plan to make use of the Volt in a presentation to Congress.

GM says car buyers will be able to buy the Volt in the 2010 model year, which begs the question ... why does General Motors appear to have only ONE built-and-running prototype Volt in the world right now?

Kinda, sorta related: A Sea of Unwanted Imports in LA.

— TJ Sullivan in LA