Wednesday morning headlines

Tribune says it's all good: The company insists that the financing to go private is set, despite a stumbling stock price and a Lehman Brothers analyst who put the odds of the deal going through at only 50-50. The buyout is backed by JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch and Citigroup, and they're contractually committed to the loans unless Tribune's 2007 profit misses certain targets. So far, that hasn't happened. There is still the possibility that financing terms will be renegotiated nearer to the time the deal closes. (Reuters)

Countrywide's woes: A Merrill Lynch analyst warned that the biggest U.S. mortgage lender could face bankruptcy if it loses access to short-term financing. The problem, of course, is liquidity - or lack thereof. "If liquidations occur in a weak market, then it is possible for CFC to go bankrupt,'' said Kenneth Bruce, who downgraded the stock to "sell." Meanwhile, Countrywide said that foreclosures and delinquencies jumped in July to the highest levels in more than five years. Last week, Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo assured investors that the company has enough cash to cope. (Bloomberg, LAT)

Mattel's big problem: It's really the problem for all companies manufacturing in China and it's summed up in the last paragraph of this morning's WSJ story. Those lead-tainted Sarge cars being recalled were made by a subcontractor who subcontracted the painting to a non-authorized supplier. "Consumers have no way of knowing what comes from where," Rachel Weintraub, director of product safety at the Consumer Federation of America, told the Journal.

Newspaper drama: The wacky goings-on at the Santa Barbara News-Press have reached a National Labor Relations Board hearing room as eight fired journalists and the paper's publisher, Wendy McCaw, duke it out. The journalists say McCaw quashed a union organizing drive, while McCaw says the journalists tried to seize control of the newspaper (she has depicted herself as a holdout for journalistic standards). The NLRB complaint against the News Press cites nearly 20 instances in which supervisors took improper actions against employees. An administrative law judge will have to sort it out. If the employees were found to have been improperly fired, they could be entitled to back wages and possible reinstatement. (LAT)

Queen Mary auction: An investment group fronted by an OC developer will pay $43 million to over the lease to the Queen Mary and its surrounding, oceanfront property. The group, called Save the Queen, nearly negotiated an out-of-court, $49 million sale of the lease with the city last month. It's proposing to turn the site as a theme resort, not unlike Universal City Walk. The only other bidder was O&S Holdings of Santa Monica. (Press-Telegram)

Limato to William Morris?: That's what Nikki Finke has been reporting, now that the ex-ICM agent has become a free agent. Finke says that Paradigm and UTA were also interested. Limato worked at William Morris until joining up ICM 19 years ago. (Deadline Hollywood Daily)

Vacation time: Breaking away for a week or two this time of year is being replaced by long weekends, or so say the experts who study this stuff. A leaner workforce is one explanation. So is the number of dual-income couples that can't coordinate vacation time. "There are no more 'off' switches in life," Peter Rose, a partner at Yankelovich, told the WSJ. More than a third of us aren't taking all the vacation days they get for the year.