Leave it to the NY Post

Under the headline "Silent Auction," the paper has "some Wall Street bankers" speculating that a Tribune Co. committee is just going through the motions in looking for potential buyers. The purpose is to get the Chandler family and other unhappy shareholders off the company's back. These Post sources said that Tribune, parent of the LAT, deliberately limited the bidding process to include selling the entire company, as opposed to selling individual parts. Also, Tribune wants to the board to receive recommendations from the committee by the end of the year, which doesn't allow suitors much time to examine the books. "In reality," says the paper, "Tribune's management, including CEO Dennis FitzSimons, isn't confident a deal will come out of the sales process." Another complication is that Clear Channel Communications, the nation's largest chain of radio stations, has just put itself up for sale. Investors who might have been interested in Tribune might be pulled to Clear Channel.