The colorful Sam Zell assumed leadership of the historically gray Tribune Company yesterday, after closing an $8.2 billion deal to take the company private.
Former chairman & CEO Dennis J. FitzSimons immediately stepped down, making way for Zell to assume both titles.
Zell dismissed most of the old board, with the exception of Northern Trust chairman William A. Osborn and McKinsey & Company adviser Betsy D. Holden.
New board members include Jeffrey Berg, chairman and CEO of International Creative Management and a director of Oracle.
Also joining the board was Maggie Wilderotter, who heads Citizens Communications and sits on the boards of Xerox and Yahoo. Wilderotter resigned as a director of another publisher, McClatchy Company, in August.
Tribune owns newspapers and TV stations, as well as other media properties such as a radio station and production studios. Among its largest holdings are The Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun and Newsday.
Zell pooh-poohed those who predict more gloom and doom for publishing.
“I’m sick and tired of listening to everybody talk about and commiserate over the end of newspapers,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “They ain’t ended and they’re not going to end. I think they have a great future.”
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