Court Approves Tribune Bonus Plan

Plan OK'd

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge KEVIN CAREY approved TRIBUNE CO.'s plan to pay up to over $40 million in bonuses to 635 executives at the company WEDNESDAY.  The company agreed to withhold bonus payments for the five executives who may be defendants in lawsuits over SAM ZELL's buyout of the company in 2007.

At the hearing, CAREY ruled that the bonus request was not excessive; LOS ANGELES TIMES Publisher and member of the company's executive council EDDY HARTENSTEIN said that the company's projected cash flow of $617 million this year would result in bonuses totaling $33 million for 640 executives ($4.4 million for the company's top 9 executives and $28.2 million for the others).

Excluded from the bonuses are CFO CHANDLER BIGELOW, SVP/Investments DANIEL KAZAN, SVP/Financial Operations HARRY AMSDEN, TRIBUNE PUBLISHING EVP ROBERT GREMILLION and DAVID WILLIAMS, CEO of TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, the company's newspaper feature syndication arm.  The five executives are being named by unsecured creditors as potential defendants in a suit over the buyout.  Also undetermined are the bonuses to be paid to former CEO RANDY MICHAELS and other executives who left in the wake of his resignation.

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