Zell admits ‘mistake’ in TribCo purchase

Zell admits ‘mistake’ in TribCo purchase

By: Lorene Yue April 15, 2009 Crain’s Chicago Business

(Crain’s) — Sam Zell admits that taking over Tribune Co. hasn’t gone according to plan and was a “mistake.”

“The definition if you bought something and it’s now worth a great deal less, you made a mistake,” he told Bloomberg Television on Wednesday. “And I’m more than willing to say I made a mistake. I was too optimistic in terms of the newspaper’s ability to preserve its position.”

The Chicago billionaire, who made his fortune from commercial real estate, was instrumental in taking the parent of the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times private through a complex deal that saddled it with $13 billion in debt. Tribune Co. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December, a move Mr. Zell said in Wednesday’s interview was necessary to “stop the bleeding and preserve a great company.”

The process that Mr. Zell used to take Tribune private caught the attention recently of the U.S. Department of Labor, which last month subpoenaed the company for documents related to its Employees Stock Ownership Plan, now the sole owner of Tribune Co.

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(20071028 Tribune, Patuxent Publishing Group, Baltimore Sun disclosure Kevin Dayhoff writes for three of the newspapers in the Patuxent Publishing Group, the Sunday Carroll Eagle, Westminster Eagle and Eldersburg Eagle. The Patuxent Publishing Group is owned by “Tribune.” Tribune also owns the Baltimore Sun – and as a matter of fact, the Sunday Carroll Eagle is distributed in the Sunday edition of the Baltimore Sun – see: 20071021 Baltimore Sun: “To our readers.”) Additionally I write for an online magazine, The Tentacle.)

20090415 Zell admits mistake in TribCo purchase by Lorene Yue
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20080402 Patuxent Publishing Company president Jim Quimby departing

Patuxent Publishing Company president Jim Quimby departing

Quimby led company's expansion into Carroll County

04/02/08 By Jennifer Broadwater

The president of Patuxent Publishing Co., which publishes the Eldersburg Eagle, will leave the company in early May.

Jim Quimby, who has served as president of Patuxent since 2000, will depart May 2 as part of a reorganization of the company, he said March 25.

Patuxent is operated by The Baltimore Sun Co., which, along with Patuxent, is owned by Tribune Co., a Chicago-based company owned by Sam Zell.

(Disclosure: I write for the Westminster Eagle and the Eldersburg Eagle, also owned by “Tribune”. Tribune also owns the Baltimore Sun – and as a matter of fact, I also write for the Sunday Carroll Eagle which is distributed in the Sunday edition of the Baltimore Sun – see: 20071021 Baltimore Sun: “To our readers”)

Sun publisher and CEO Timothy Ryan announced Quimby's departure in a statement. Ryan did not return telephone calls seeking comment on Quimby's departure.

Beginning April 9, Trish Carroll will take over as senior vice president of the Baltimore Sun Media Group's "targeted print" publications, which include those produced by Patuxent and its sister company, Homestead Publishing, in Harford County, and b, a free daily tabloid The Sun intends to launch in mid-April.

Headquartered in Columbia, Patuxent publishes 18 newspapers in the Baltimore and Washington, D.C., metro areas, and several magazines and local telephone directories. Its 275 employees work in offices in Westminster, Columbia, Ellicott City, Laurel and Towson.

Carroll worked for The Sun for 16 years, in a variety of roles before taking a job directing operations and technology at The Olympian, a McClatchy Co.-owned newspaper in the state of Washington.

'A true professional'

Quimby will leave the company after 37 years in the publishing business, including nearly eight years at the helm of Patuxent.

Quimby, 55, of Harford County, described his tenure at Patuxent as a "phenomenal" experience. He said he is unsure of his next step.

"My first words to her were, 'Congratulations, you just got the best job in the whole world,' " Quimby said he told Carroll. "It's a phenomenal opportunity to work at a place like the community newspapers."

His career began in 1970, when he landed a job selling advertising for Harford County-based Susquehanna Publishing, which was purchased by The Baltimore Sun Co. in 1989.

He later worked in operations, press and packaging, circulation and distribution. He helped merge two competing newspapers in Harford County to form Homestead Publishing Co., for which he served as general manager.

In September 2000, he was named president of the Baltimore Sun Community Newspaper Group, which includes Homestead and Patuxent.

During his tenure as president, the company expanded into Carroll County with its purchase of The Eldersburg Eagle from founder David Greenwalt and the creation of The Westminster Eagle. It launched The Sunday Carroll Eagle in 2007.

Patuxent purchased Chesapeake Home magazine in 2005 and the Ellicott City-based The View newspapers in 2007.

Reporter Jay Thompson contributed to this story.