Tribune Co. said its fourth-quarter revenue shrank 11% as the
media company posted weaker broadcasting and publishing
results.
The company, which emerged from bankruptcy in late 2012, is
preparing to spin off the newspaper-publishing group that includes
the Los Angeles Times, Baltimore Sun and Chicago Tribune by
midyear. In November, the company said it would eliminate around
700 jobs from the newspaper division as part of a restructuring
process, and it named former Time Inc. Chief Executive Jack Griffin
as CEO of the newspaper-publishing business earlier this month.
Pushing further into broadcasting instead, Tribune in December
closed its roughly $2.73 billion deal to buy stations from Local TV
Holdings LLC. The agreement makes the Chicago-based media company
the country's largest owner of commercial TV stations. Tribune now
owns 39 television stations across the country.
Broadcasting revenue dropped 12% to $267 million in the latest
period, due in part to an additional week of revenue in 2012 and
lower political advertising revenue during an off-cycle election
year.
Publishing revenue fell 11% to $507 million, on a decline in ad
revenue and commercial printing and delivery services, offset
partly by a $4 million increase in circulation revenue.
Overall revenue sank 11% to $773.4 million, or 6.2% when
excluding the extra week in 2012.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization
fell 20% to $158.7 million.
Write to Ben Fox Rubin at ben.rubin@wsj.com
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