Private equity firms line up for Tribune (WSJ)

By Nancy Vialatte

The Wall Street Journal reports that several private equity firms are starting to edge into the auction process for the beleaguered Tribune Co. and that they are perhaps the company's best hope.

Nonbinding offers have been solicited by month's end, with such players as Madison Dearborn Partners, Texas Pacific Group and Carlyle Group getting into the mix.

With the outcome of a Tribune sale a likely harbinger of things to come for the print industry, the company's fate will be watched closely. This is especially true if it is a private equity group which swoops in to take over. The Journal explains:

'Private-equity firms -- which gather capital from institutions, pension plans and state investment pools -- have dabbled in the publishing industry for years, but have yet to buy into as large an operation as Tribune, which got its start in 1861. The prospect is a fraught one for newspaper employees, who fear that the buyout shops would slash already-reduced news staffs and draw closer the separately operating business and editorial staffs.'