Topic Archive: Sam Zell
A federal judge in Chicago today ruled that key parts a lawsuit by current and former Los Angeles Times employees can proceed against Tribune Company chairman Sam Zell and the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 17, 2009 4:59 PM
Tiger Woods cops to transgressions, water main break eats a Lexus, Sam Zell gives up one title and La Opinión goes hyperlocal — plus much more after the jump.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 2, 2009 9:28 AM
Gawker can't contain its sarcasm about Sam Zell's bankrupt Tribune's latest gift to America's airwaves. Instead of just flying his prop job around the Midwest to have unhealthy lunches on... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 28, 2009 3:29 PM
Tribune Co. bondholders want the bankruptcy court judge in Delaware to let them scrutinize the 2007 sale to Sam Zell, saying provisions in the "fraudulent" deal led to the company's... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 26, 2009 11:24 PM
Tribune Co. said today that it has an agreement to sell the Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field to the Ricketts family, which is paying about $800 million. Chicago Tribune... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 21, 2009 3:50 PM
You can't do this in print! Steve Greenberg gets a little animated about Sam Zell. See the Greenberg archive in LA Sketchbook.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 17, 2009 10:15 PM
Mark at LA Biz Observed picked up this morning's news out of Chicago about Tribune Company creditors trying to delete Sam Zell from any reorganization that comes from the bankruptcy.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 14, 2009 11:07 AM
News and notes are hidden after the jump. Also see today's Mark Lacter morning headlines at LA Biz Observed, and follow Mark and Kevin on Twitter.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 12, 2009 9:05 AM
Remember Sam Zell's chief innovation officer, the irrepressible Lee Abrams? Turns out he has been a pilot since he was 17, and like many hobbyist pilots across the U.S. he... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 19, 2009 9:11 PM
Sam Zell's Tribune Company has a written agreement to sell the Chicago Cubs, Wrigley Field and other assets to the Ricketts family for about $900 million, says the Chicago Tribune.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 6, 2009 1:01 PM
Intriguing story out of the Chicago Tribune (via Romenesko) says that negotiations with big creditors of the bankrupt Tribune Company could lead to chairman Sam Zell losing his role. Details... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 7, 2009 8:33 PM
Former Los Angeles Times publisher David Hiller has been appointed president and chief executive of Chicago's McCormick Foundation, which has been the charitable arm of the Tribune Company. Hiller worked... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 18, 2009 2:56 PM
Sam Zell's bankrupt Tribune Company is facing an Internal Revenue Service audit of the ESOP part of the transaction that allowed Zell to take control of Tribune. The IRS "disclosed... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 13, 2009 12:09 AM
The bankruptcy judge just gave the Tribune Company permission to pay $13 million in bonuses to stop selected staffers from leaving, but said no to $2 million in pending severance... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 12, 2009 2:42 PM
The Tribune Co. has asked the bankruptcy court for permission to make severance payments to 70 employees who left last year — and a more sensitive request to pay $13... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 22, 2009 2:39 PM
Variety columnist and blogger Brian Lowry wasn't impressed by L.A. Times columnist-blogger Patrick Goldstein's recent critique of the trade paper and Peter Bart. Lowry's open letter to Goldstein gets a... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 16, 2009 12:18 PM
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger took his campaign for state propositions 1A through 1F to the Los Angeles Times building tonight, telling an invited crowd of opinion shapers and readers that "the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 15, 2009 11:05 PM
The U.S. labor department has subpoenaed Tribune Co. in an investigation connected to the stock-ownership plan that was a key feature of Sam Zell's 2007 deal to take Tribune private,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 10, 2009 3:13 PM
Columbia Journalism Review rounds up the day's media hijinks, creative and not. The rating for Tribune's fake press release: "pretty lame." Really, should a bankrupt, flailing company be reminding people... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 1, 2009 3:21 PM
Tribune master Sam Zell, trying to restore his stature as an astute investor "after his disastrous buyout of Tribune Co.," has surfaced as an unlikely player in a controversy in... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 30, 2009 11:30 AM
Tribune acknowledged that chairman Sam Zell was interviewed in January by federal prosecutors as a "potential witness" in the criminal investigation of former Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich. Zell also... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 11, 2009 10:05 PM
One of Sam Zell's quirks is that he sends out an annual gift and personal take on the year to friends and colleagues. Sharon Waxman at The Wrap digs up... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 3, 2009 11:39 PM
Maybe this has been up for awhile, but it was just pointed out to me today. The L.A. Times website has a little photo slide show feature called: "Are you... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 26, 2009 11:23 AM
Los Angeles is going to be lousy with its absentee news moguls this month. Dean Singleton is coming in for a meeting of his suits on the 23rd — no... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 14, 2009 1:34 AM
Readers of Los Angeles Metblogs have spoken. They voted Sam Zell as the 2008 Grinch of the Year. Quips the blog's David Markland: "Congratulations, Sam! Ebenezer Scrooge and William Mulholland... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 8, 2009 6:12 PM
Mark Lacter points in his LA Biz Observed morning headlines to a column where Washington Post writer Steven Pearlstein calls B.S. on Sam Zell's claim that a "perfect storm" of... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 10, 2008 8:53 AM
News item: Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, arrested on suspicion of corruption, believed that Sam Zell planned to use "certain corporate reorganizations and budget cuts" to get the Chicago Tribune editorial... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 9, 2008 10:39 AM
From Tribune's internal Q-&-A on the impacts of today's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing: How are severance payments affected? All ongoing severance payments, deferred compensation and other payments to former employees... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 8, 2008 12:46 PM
Mark Lacter has this morning's news at LA Biz Observed on Tribune filing for Chapter 11 protection. Here's chairman and CEO Sam Zell's statement to the staffs at the LA... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 8, 2008 11:36 AM
The New York Times has posted a new staff story on the reports about Tribune's internal preparations to possibly file for bankruptcy protection. The nub: Tribune is in danger of... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 7, 2008 6:50 PM
Mark Lacter has been following the afternoon's developments on Sam Zell preparing to seek bankruptcy protection as soon as this week, if he can't renegotiate the loans that allowed him... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 7, 2008 5:34 PM
The previous editor of the Los Angeles Times wonders at the Nieman Watchdog whether newspapers will deliver "the rich, hard-hitting storytelling that gives the news its infrastructure of shoe-leather journalism... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 1, 2008 12:56 PM
Veteran media executive Charles Warner, the former head of interactive marketing at AOL and an emeritus chair at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, blogs at the Huffington Post... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 30, 2008 11:10 AM
From around the local media: Sam Rubin talked to SAG president Alan Rosenberg on the KTLA Morning News. "We've made monumental moves in their direction...and they have not moved one... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 24, 2008 3:08 PM
Several of the biggest corporate buyouts in recent years are in trouble, says Breakingviews.com, especially Sam Zell's highly leveraged take over of Tribune. Tribune looks to be the megadeal most... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 24, 2008 12:49 PM
Chief Tribune innovation honcho, Lee Abrams, was in town this week for a Press Club event and, in addition to this YouTube video, left a flurry of news stories... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 15, 2008 12:17 PM
There's a cottage industry of black humor and killer irony at the Times thanks to Lee Abrams' smug memos, with their hefty helpings of hubris tinged with Tourettes. Here's one... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 14, 2008 12:07 PM
Tribune has decided to stop outsourcing its computer help desk overseas. Because as anyone at the L.A. Times or KTLA could tell them, it w-a-s-n't w-o-r-k-i-n-g. From: Tribune Communications Subject:... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 7, 2008 10:31 AM
Sam Zell's contributions in this election cycle include $20,000 to the McCain Victory Committee on May 6 and another $20,000 to McCain-Palin Victory 2008 on Sept. 16. Previously, all we... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 31, 2008 5:09 PM
The Financial Times is reporting that Sam Zell's Tribune has been kicking the tires on the Orange County Register with an eye to "consolidate the Los Angeles newspaper market, as... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 22, 2008 3:50 PM
Radio guy turned Tribune innovation guru Lee Abrams is talking a lot these days. Today, Portfolio's Jeff Bercovici caught up to him at the Dow Jones/Nielsen Media & Money conference... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 15, 2008 9:30 AM
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa upped the ante today in the traditional jousting between mayors of baseball playoff cities. Chicago mayor Richard Mayor Daley previously wagered a “Take Me Out to the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 1, 2008 4:05 PM
Sam Zell had another of his big birthday bashes over the weekend in Chicago. A blogger connected to a relative posted a report and pics at the Philadelphia City Paper... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 30, 2008 4:02 PM
The editor and managing editor introduce the new look newspaper on Chicago television — watch the video.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 23, 2008 10:34 PM
I guess Jim Newton really didn't want to leave the Los Angeles Times to write his book about Dwight Eisenhower — and that Publisher David Hiller was the main reason... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 19, 2008 12:12 PM
Sam Zell responded to yesterday's class-action lawsuit by Los Angeles Times employees — which was first reported here — in a Dear Partners note to the company. He calls the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 17, 2008 2:55 PM
A few minutes ago I added the names of the Los Angeles Times columnist and former reporters who sued Sam Zell in federal court today, alleging he messed with the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 16, 2008 12:44 PM
I'm told that lawyers representing current and former Los Angeles Times newsroom staffers are filing a class-action federal lawsuit against Sam Zell and Tribune this morning in Los Angeles, alleging... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 16, 2008 10:12 AM
I enjoyed reading the story of Tom Dreesen and Tim Reid, who met at a Jaycees meeting outside Chicago in 1968 and struggled to break through as a black-and-white comedy... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 9, 2008 10:41 PM
Allan Sloan of Fortune Magazine, a persistent skeptic of Tribune dealings, breaks down Sam Zell's latest creative financing scheme for Marketplace: "The company is in, as you know, big trouble....What... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 11, 2008 10:45 PM
Just before noon, the editors at LATimes.com decided to give one of the top spots at the Los Angeles Times home page to a story — and tag cloud —... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 31, 2008 1:10 PM
Sam Zell tells Business Week that "it will continue to be the deal from hell until we turn it around." More from the piece now in the magazine, which calls... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 30, 2008 3:12 PM
Joe Scott blogs that Sam Zell should sell the Los Angeles Times. What amazes is the current lack of outrage about the decline and fall of LA’s most important asset....I... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 30, 2008 12:15 AM
I'm hearing that at last night's L. A. Times farewell soiree, the elephant in the room, so to speak, was Eli Broad. The billionaire art patron was a very active... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 23, 2008 3:21 PM
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and ex-mayor Richard Riordan attended tonight's reception in the L.A. Times building for departing editor of the editorial pages Jim Newton. He quit June 3,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 22, 2008 11:51 PM
Maurice Possley, a Chicago Tribune criminal justice reporter who was on the team that helped free wrongly convicted death row prisoners, asked to be included in his paper's involuntary separation... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 21, 2008 12:52 PM
I'm woefully behind on emails and hope to catch up while traveling this weekend. Meanwhile, here's the link to Friday's LA Observed segment on KCRW. The script is posted below,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 19, 2008 12:35 AM
Ann Marie Lipinski doesn't mention Sam Zell by name. But, well... She is the second highest ranking newspaper editor in Zell's empire. Lipinski's note to the newsroom does mention the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 14, 2008 9:51 AM
That's how one staffer describes the mood around the Los Angeles Times offices, where editors were believed to be working last night on their final lists of staffers — 150... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 11, 2008 12:50 AM
The reason Sam Zell and company get so much attention (and let's face it, derision) here is not that they want to force change on institutions like the Times and... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 10, 2008 2:15 PM
With Sam Zell and Randy Michaels in town and making everybody antsy, and speculation raging in the newsroom about the future of Publisher David Hiller, the cutting out of printed... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 9, 2008 5:10 PM
Sam Zell's in-house innovator Lee Abrams has memoed again, long and rambling and ungrammatical as usual. Now that the cost-cutting Los Angeles Times is apparently moving towards folding the stand-alone... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 8, 2008 9:15 AM
ERS News says that seven Channel 5 news staffers got the pink slip today, including on-air reporters Walter Richards, Bill Smith, Willa Sandmeyer and Janet Choi. Two long-time executive producers... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 30, 2008 8:55 PM
Word at the Los Angeles Times is that retired reporter Ken Reich, 70, died in his sleep. He was found this morning. Friend and former Tom Bradley deputy mayor Anton... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 30, 2008 11:43 AM
That's what retired Los Angeles Times reporter Ken Reich calls his series of blog posts telling a little bit about 75 former Times staffers who left during the later part... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 29, 2008 11:53 PM
I'd much rather not be posting all the time about a Chicago billionaire, but Sam Zell is L.A.'s biggest news media mogul right now. Yesterday at a taping for Dave... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 25, 2008 10:28 AM
Tribune's Lee Abrams, in an interview with Jeffrey Goldberg at The Atlantic, sought to clarify some of his image as...a not very informed observer of newspapers, even though he's the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 24, 2008 9:55 PM
Radio talker Hugh Hewitt offers some new advice to Sam Zell and Randy Michaels on the problem child of their big debt-laden, default-threatened investment in the Tribune company. (Here was... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 24, 2008 9:34 PM
At the Los Angeles Press Club awards on Saturday night, L.A. Times columnist Steve Lopez had some fun at Sam Zell's expense — alluding to Zell's lame ideas, four-letter... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 24, 2008 7:10 PM
This time the Tribune innovation guru explains why the Orlando redesign will work. Again, nothing about higher quality or better, deeper, smarter stories. It's all about the presentation and marketing.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 23, 2008 10:52 AM
Sam Zell's Orland Sentinel has unveiled its new more colorful and "get to the point" redesign. The editor of the Chicago Tribune today told her staff that the paper will... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 20, 2008 9:17 AM
The anonymous L.A. Times staffer (plural?) behind Tell Zell has posted a list of the LAT journalists who have left the newsroom in the past two years and a link... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 16, 2008 11:54 AM
Never a dull moment.... Chicago Tribune publisher Scott Smith says he'll retire, calling it time for Zell and Randy Michaels to bring in their own morning deejay "new leadership." Romenesko... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 12, 2008 2:05 PM
Marjorie Miller says it's her call to return to reporting and that the new management team at the L.A. Times should get to name its own foreign editor. Memos here... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 5, 2008 3:38 PM
Joel Sappell had been at the L.A. Times for 26 years, most recently as an investigative projects editor. He never considered any previous buyout, thinking of the LAT as his... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 2, 2008 2:20 PM
New week, new pearls of official innovation-ness from Tribune's chief research scientist. The graduate of the FM radio school of higher thinking sent out 1,238 words this time. Before I... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 27, 2008 2:38 PM
I'm told that staffers at Channel 5 were gathered together for two all-hands meetings yesterday and told that ND Rich Goldner would exit today for that new job in San... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 20, 2008 12:15 PM
My favorite part of Lee Abrams' latest pearls of wordiness emailed to Tribune's weary innovators is this, from Romenesko: Using my favorite music analogies--Imagine Newspaper CONTENT is a major artist.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 19, 2008 10:35 PM
Proposition 98 is sold to voters as an anti-eminent domain measure, "but really carries the long-standing agenda of interests that want to extinguish rent control and block water and air... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 12, 2008 8:19 AM
Perhaps Sam Zell realized his troubled new company needs a full-time boss, or maybe he just tired of his newspaper toys after a few months in charge. Whatever, executive VP... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 7, 2008 11:28 PM
Tribune innovation czar Lee Abrams blogs that before coming to Los Angeles, "For years I have heard the Industry dirt on the Los Angeles Times. Got a lot of 'good... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 5, 2008 4:55 PM
Sam Zell's new innovation guru, Lee Abrams, uses a video on the company site to explain his vision of how the 1950s growth of rock and roll and reinvention of... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 24, 2008 2:56 PM
As of January 1, the Tribune began charging employees who smoke $100 a month more for their health care. Today the new Tribune did away with the fee and plans... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 22, 2008 3:15 PM
Mark Lacter listened in on Sam Zell's conference call today with analysts and didn't hear much that was new. Zell says employees keep telling him he's a breath of fresh... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 17, 2008 12:25 PM
San Diego County Supervisor Dianne Jacob writes today that "I was sued by the owner of the Los Angeles Times for speaking my mind about the business practices of one... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 16, 2008 12:37 PM
Now that's he actually on the job, Lee Abrams is pleasantly surprised to found there are lots of people in his company who actually know stuff and are open-minded about... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 15, 2008 10:57 AM
RJ Smith at Los Angeles magazine conducted interviews with all six living ex-editors of the Los Angeles Times, a group whose time in charge spans from 1971 to this year.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 15, 2008 7:40 AM
Just passing along what I was told this morning from a possibly good source — no confirmation, no independent reporting, no warranty implied. But my contact travels in the right... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 11, 2008 9:06 AM
NPR media reporter David Folkenflik got hold of an audio tape of Sam Zell's morale-sapping remarks at the L.A. Times and Tribune Washington bureau in February. That's the visit where... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 9, 2008 8:46 AM
OK, we get it. Sam Zell keeps saying the people who work at Tribune, its TV stations and newspapers take themselves too seriously. This new press release on the Tribune... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 7, 2008 5:20 PM
Four more Clear Channel executives jumped to Tribune last week, and together with the radio and TV veterans that had already joined the Sam Zell team it suggests to the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 6, 2008 9:35 PM
Tribune's new innovation honcho Lee Abrams finally began work today after a career in radio and a bunch of pre-memos. He immediately blogged his notes on a vision for the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 2, 2008 11:39 AM
Times legal affairs writer Henry Weinstein's voice carries a lot of weight in the newsroom and his departure may be the one affecting staff morale the most. (Here's his Friday... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 30, 2008 12:56 AM
Many of the journalists who departed the L.A. Times on Friday sent farewells to the newsroom. Some directed messages at Tribune owner Sam Zell. Here's the email from special projects... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 30, 2008 12:43 AM
Friday was clean out their desk day for the editors, writers and other staffers who left the Los Angeles Times in the lastest wave of buyouts. (I'll update my list... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 29, 2008 11:37 AM
Reporter Myron Levin, one of the veteran reporters to take the Los Angeles Times buyout, checked out today with a farewell email to the entire editorial staff. He seems to... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 27, 2008 5:12 PM
Sam Zell wants his "partners" in the Tribune empire to send their ideas to a new online Idea Bank -- and to make withdrawals too. The latest from Uncle Sam:... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 26, 2008 12:39 PM
CEO Sam Zell enjoyed the little dig his Chicago Tribune got in on the rival Sun-Times, which held a contest to let readers' express their opinion on Zell's possible interest... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 24, 2008 4:31 PM
Tribune CEO Sam Zell just sent all the "partners" — his title for the employees who put up the money for him to buy the company — a note acknowledging... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 20, 2008 1:58 PM
Sam Zell's new company endured a $78 million loss in the fourth quarter of 2007 compared to a a profit of $233 million in the same quarter a year earlier.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 20, 2008 12:06 PM
Note to KTLA: the TV station that Sam Zell's Tribune company owns in South Florida is moving in with the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel newspaper. Zell has said the company would... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 19, 2008 9:12 AM
In his first visit to the Wall Street Journal’s D.C. bureau, new owner Rupert Murdoch told staffers that he would put more resources into Washington coverage and take on the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 11, 2008 9:05 AM
How often can the people who actually have to run the L.A. Times cover for Sam Zell's...Zelliousnness? This time, Publisher David Hiller sent the Washington bureau a valentine assuring the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 28, 2008 3:46 PM
The eminent domain measure on the June ballot would also phase out some rent control laws, potentially resulting in a $15 million windfall for Sam Zell's Equity Lifestyle Properties Inc.,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 28, 2008 12:40 AM
Michael Tackett, who runs the Chicago Tribune's side of the big bureau in Washington that the LAT dominates, tells Editor & Publisher that his people are ready to work with... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 27, 2008 11:47 AM
Chicago Tribune media columnist Phil Rosenthal covers yesterday's Sam Zell attack on the LAT Washington bureau, and it goes beyond the psychic bloodbath I picked up. Zell wants the Times... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 27, 2008 8:59 AM
I'm told Sam Zell just informed the Los Angeles Times Washington bureau that there's way too many people there and they should start acting like a wire service for the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 26, 2008 11:21 AM
Inspired by Zell's comments last night at the Hammer, my LA Observed segment on KCRW at 4:44 pm wonders why anyone sees him as a potential saviour of journalism here... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 22, 2008 4:39 PM
I listened to Sam Zell answer questions Thursday night at the Hammer Museum, then afterward shook his hand and chatted a bit about the Times and newspapers. First time I'd... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 21, 2008 10:06 PM
Alert YouTube. Sam Zell makes his first public appearance in Los Angeles Thursday since all that foofah over his demeaning language — and the launch of a new era at... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 20, 2008 6:25 PM
Vinnie Malcolm will be leaving the building at Channel 5. He may already be gone. Staffers aren't clear just how hard he was pushed, but the memo from new Sam... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 19, 2008 12:26 PM
Portfolio's Jack Flack tries to answer a provocative question: who is the smarter newspaper owner, Sam Zell or Rupert Murdoch. It might be an unfair question, since Murdoch has run... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 14, 2008 4:50 PM
While I was on the road, Mark Lacter picked up the news that Sam Zell ordered staff cuts at the Times and across Tribune, citing the need to reduce costs... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 13, 2008 11:18 PM
Bad timing. As soon as I finished and posted the previous item on some LAT concerns about the reaction to Sam Zell's style, I received an email that went out... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 11, 2008 6:38 PM
So you get the choice assignment: illustrate a story on the science of orgasm. Problem: How do you depict something you can't see? Caveat: It's for a big family newspaper,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 11, 2008 6:18 PM
Sam Zell apparently got enough feedback about his boorish (at best) remarks at the Times and Orlando Sentinel last week that he sent out a mea culpa this morning posing... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 11, 2008 11:41 AM
The pressmen at the Times' printing plant asked Sam Zell during last week's visit why the bosses wouldn't let them have a pool table to blow off steam during breaks.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 11, 2008 12:51 AM
As of now, Sam Zell has his own category at LA Observed. Signs are it will be a busy one. I get now what New York journos see in the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 8, 2008 9:45 AM
Times pressman Ed Padgett blogs that Sam Zell was a big hit at the paper's downtown printing plant this morning. The new boss also brought some news, according to Padgett.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 7, 2008 6:22 PM
New owner Sam Zell apparently lit into ex-editor Jim O'Shea during this morning's talk to L.A. Times employees. If I get better reports, or the transcript — or video? —... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 7, 2008 11:21 AM
Sam Zell is turning out to be prickly about having his wisdom about journalism challenged, even slightly. He got all huffy about a question in one of his visits to... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 4, 2008 11:58 AM
As several KTLA staffers have emailed to remind me, the station had been blocking employees' access to LA Observed. Even while cooperating from time to time at the news level.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 22, 2008 1:23 PM
Tribune chairman Sam Zell decrees that his properties will no longer filter the Internet content that employees can view. Via email to staffers: From: Talk to Sam Sent: Tuesday, January... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 22, 2008 11:42 AM
New Tribune chairman Sam Zell emailed the Times staff: From: Talk to Sam Sent: Monday, January 21, 2008 10:04 AM Subject: Jim O'Shea's departure Everyone, With all of the media... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 21, 2008 11:29 AM
A new employee handbook from the Zell regime went out to all 20,000 Tribune "owners" today. It tries to distance the new Zellian Tribune from the old group, and begins... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 16, 2008 11:51 PM
The New Yorker's Connie Bruck examines the personality that is Sam Zell and his deal to acquire Tribune, and comes up with some earthy quotes and notable observations. Zell on... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 5, 2007 9:15 AM
Sam Zell was in Beverly Hills today and more or less swore that he has no plans to sell the Los Angeles Times, assuming that he gets hold of Tribune,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 9, 2007 9:32 PM
Sam Zell doesn't yet have control of the Tribune Company — and tried to reassure a skeptical stock market today that he will — but he's billed as the special... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 14, 2007 3:24 PM
Strong words from financial analyst Jim Cramer at The Street.com about the pending Tribune Company sale. Make that red flags and warning sirens: You have to feel terrible about what's... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 17, 2007 7:59 PM