Tribune considers offers for parts of Tribune Media Services

NEW YORK -- Tribune Co., which just sold one of its largest newspapers, is considering selling parts of another business unit, a distributor of news, comics and entertainment listings.

A spokesman for the Chicago-based media company, Gary Weitman, said Thursday that Tribune was providing information to potential bidders for parts of the assets under Tribune Media Services, confirming reports in the Financial Times and the Chicago Tribune, the company's flagship paper.

However Weitman added that the company hadn't made any decision about whether to sell any parts of the unit, and in "no event" would the company sell all of Tribune Media Services.

Tribune Media Services distributes news, columns, photos, editorial cartoons and various other information. Weitman declined to make further comment, but the Financial Times reported that the unit generates about $25 million in annual pre-tax earnings, making the whole business worth potentially as much as $200 million.

Tribune announced an agreement on May 12 to sell Newsday, one of its largest newspapers, for $650 million to Cablevision Systems Corp., a cable TV provider that like Newsday is also based on New York's Long Island. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. and New York Daily News owner Mortimer Zuckerman had also bid on Newsday.

Tribune went private last December in a deal orchestrated by the real estate magnate Sam Zell. Zell had originally planned to keep the company's major newspaper and broadcasting assets intact, but changed his mind following a rapid deterioration in the newspaper business early this year.

Tribune took on an additional $8.2 billion in debt when it went private, and the company is looking to other asset sales in order to meet its debt service requirements, including the Chicago Cubs baseball team and the stadium they play in, Wrigley Field.