Tribune: Cashflow To Hit $400M
(Nov. 14, 2009) According to recent reports by Reuters and other news organizations, Sam Zell’s Tribune Company issued a memo to employees on Friday indicating that its operating cashflow would reach $400 million for its fiscal year ending Dec. 31, 2009, or about double its original projections.
In related news, the company also asked the court overseeing its Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding to extend the period in which Tribune has the exclusive right to file its reorganization plan until the end of March 2010.
Here’s a copy of the internal memo as posted on a website run by former employees of Tribune’s Hartford Courant called courantalumni.org (Randy Michaels is Tribune’s COO and Gerry Spector its top EVP):
From: Tribune Communications
Sent: Friday, November 13, 2009 5:34 PM
Subject: Message from Randy Michaels and Gerry Spector/Motions Filed Today
This afternoon, we filed two motions with the court overseeing our Chapter 11 bankruptcy; these motions give us a good opportunity to update you on the restructuring process.
Sent: Friday, November 13, 2009 5:34 PM
Subject: Message from Randy Michaels and Gerry Spector/Motions Filed Today
This afternoon, we filed two motions with the court overseeing our Chapter 11 bankruptcy; these motions give us a good opportunity to update you on the restructuring process.
One motion asks the court to extend the period of exclusivity for filing our restructuring plan to March 31, 2010. In plain English, this motion seeks to extend the time during which only we can file a plan. The current period of exclusivity expires at the end of this month.
As the motion states, we have made “substantial progress toward filing a plan of reorganization… ”. Our goal is to deliver a plan that our creditors can support and to do so as quickly as possible. We continue active discussions with our creditors in this regard. The other motion filed asks the court to hold a status conference on certain matters related to accomplishing this goal.
The exclusivity motion makes it clear that we’ve accomplished a lot as a company. With your help, we have stabilized and repositioned our businesses, exceeding the financial results of most of our newspaper and broadcasting peers. This year we project operating cash flow of approximately $400 million—nearly double our original operating plan.
Last week here in Chicago, we met with the leaders of all of our business units and their top sales executives to share ideas and best practices as we head into the last two months of 2009. It was a very productive meeting. There is some incredibly innovative work being done on the sales side, but we can’t let up—we have to keep pushing, keep working together across all of our properties and markets, and keep looking for new solutions for our advertisers.
Today’s motions will generate some media attention. Try to tune out the noise and focus on your job. The fourth quarter is traditionally the strongest one of the year and, with your continued hard work, we’re sure this year will be no different.
Randy and Gerry
