Tribune Co. Announces Spin-Off of Newspaper Business; No Immediate Sale to the Koch Brothers
that it will split in two, separating its newspaper business from its broadcasting unit, as it focuses more on its television operations in an attempt to become more profitable. The announced spin-off is at least a temporary setback to Charles and David Koch, the conservative billionaire brothers who had expressed interest in acquiring the newspapers.
The Tribune Company owns the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun and several other leading newspapers around the country. A spin-off will allow the current owners of the Tribune – including pension funds invested through the Tribune’s largest shareholder Oaktree Capital – to participate in a hoped-for turnaround of the newspapers as new sources of revenue such as digital subscriptions grow.
