CHICAGO — Real-estate magnate Sam Zell took control of newly private Tribune Co. on Thursday and began shaking up the newspaper and TV company the moment the $8.2 billion buyout he led closed, reshuffling the board, naming two top executives and promising more action ahead.
Taking on the roles of chief executive and chairman, Zell made clear he won’t hesitate to make sweeping changes at the media conglomerate even though he has no previous experience in the industry.
He signaled he has no immediate asset sales in mind at the company that owns 23 television stations and nine daily newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune. The Chicago Cubs baseball team and Wrigley Field are to be auctioned off by July.
However, he made clear that other changes are coming.
“There’s a new sheriff in town, and the name of the game is excellence, relevance tied to revenue,” Zell said at a news conference less than three hours after the deal’s closing was announced. “I’m sick and tired of listening to everyone talk about and commiserate over the end of newspapers. They ain’t ended, and they’re not going to end. I think they have a great future.”
Graphically demonstrating the change in culture at the company, Zell was tieless and wore jeans and cowboy boots in his appearance at buttoned- down Tribune Tower.
Joking about his new hands-on role in an interview with the flagship Chicago Tribune on Wednesday, he said: “You call it CEO, and I’ll call it owner.”
Zell has had 8 1/2 months to ponder changes since agreeing to head the debt-heavy buyout, which takes the company private under an employee stock-ownership plan, and he wasted no time putting them into effect.
He added five directors to the board and named two longtime associates to key management posts. Randy Michaels, who helped him turn around radio company Jacor Communications with the help of significant cost cuts, will head the broadcast and Internet operations, and Gerry Spector, who has been chief operating officer at Zell’s Equity Residential Properties, will be Tribune’s chief administrative officer.
