Madigan leaves Madison

Just when speculation about former Tribune CEO John Madigan was getting juicy, along comes word that he has left private-equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners LLC. This seemed like a big deal because Madison Dearborn is teaming up with other private equity firms in a bid for Tribune Co. (see earlier post). And it seemed like an even bigger deal, considering that Madigan was just named to be on an advisory committee for the Robert R. McCormick Tribune Foundation, which happens to be Tribune's second biggest shareholder. The foundation announced this morning that it had hired Blackstone Group, a big buyout firm, to help it figure out how to handle the Tribune sale (Madigan is on the foundation's board). Anyway, this morning's news generated all kinds of speculation about Madigan's possible role in a Tribune buyout, which probably led to Madison's announcement that he has left the firm. Crain's Chicago Business just reported that according to Madison CEO John Canning, Madigan wanted to end speculation about a conflict of interest (too bad he forgot to tell anybody). Madigan left Madison on Dec. 22. Is all that clear now?