Blood-From-A-Stone Dept.: Trib. Co. Must Shrink Budget $100m

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Tribune Co. CEO Peter Ligouri reportedly issued marching orders to company brass this week that the media conglomerate needs to hack $100 million off its budget by December 1, according to media blog RobertFeder.com.

Feder, a former tv columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, posted that the Trib Co. had retained New York-based consultant, Empirical Media, helmed by former Time, Inc. CEO Jack Griffin, to help trim the fat off the media giant, which emerged from an arduous four-year Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this year (see "TUOL" post 1/2/13). The Tribune Co. is breaking off its publishing arm into a separate company and looking to unload its newspaper properties, which include flagship Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, Baltimore Sun and Hartford Courant.  The conglomerate wants to focus on its broadcasting holdings, which it bolstered last summer by adding 19 tv stations acquired from Local TV, LLC (see "TUOL" post 7/10/13).

Feder's article doesn't discuss the particulars regarding which areas will feel the sting of the massive cuts, but if past actions by the company and industry-wide trends are a guide, newsrooms had better gird for an increase in vacant desks.