Tribune Wins Approval to Pay $45.6 Million in Bonuses (Update2) - BusinessWeek
Tribune Wins Approval to Pay $45.6 Million in Bonuses (Update2)
January 27, 2010, 03:08 PM EST(Adds estimates of operating cash flow in ninth paragraph.)
By Steven Church
Jan. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Tribune Co. won court permission to pay about 720 managers as much as $45.6 million in bonuses, or about 11 percent of the company’s operating cash last year.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Carey approved the bonus plan today during a hearing in Wilmington, Delaware, saying the payments are “incentives designed to improve the company’s chances to survive.”
Carey overruled an objection from the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild, which argued the bonuses were unreasonable because they would consume a higher percentage of Tribune’s operating cash than ever before. Carey hasn’t yet ruled on two related bonus programs that would pay as much as $20 million to the top 30 to 40 executives.
“I still think it’s too high,” said Bill Salganik, a past president of the guild and a member of a committee representing unsecured creditors in Tribune’s bankruptcy. “I appreciate the heightened scrutiny the judge is giving to the big bonuses for the top executives.”
Tribune, based in Chicago, filed for bankruptcy court protection in December 2008, about a year after billionaire Sam Zell’s $8.3 billion purchase of the publishing and television company. Tribune owns the Los Angeles Times and the namesake Chicago newspaper among other properties.
Tribune attorney Jonathan D. Lotsoff declined to comment, referring questions to company spokesman Gary Weitman. Through an e-mail, Weitman declined to comment.
Motivating Managers
At a hearing in September, Tribune lawyers said the bonuses were necessary to keep managers motivated during troubled economic times.
The bonuses, tied to annual cash flow, are part of a broader incentive package that includes three separate pieces which could cost the company as much as $66 million. The union has opposed all three components since they were first proposed last year.
The company said in a memo earlier this month that it is likely to report $500 million in operating cash flow for 2009. Union officials said in court papers that the $45.6 million represented almost 11 percent of cash flow last year, which would put the figure at closer to $414 million.
Carey said he didn’t know when he would rule on the remaining two programs and told the company to consider making bonus proposals part of an overall plan of reorganization.
The case is In re Tribune Co., 08-13141, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware (Wilmington).
--Editors: Steve Farr, Christopher Scinta.
To contact the reporter on this story: Steven Church in Wilmington, Delaware, at +1-302-661-7606 or schurch3@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: David E. Rovella at +1-212-617-1092 or drovella@bloomberg.net.
Does this make anyone else from Chicago want to puke? "Necessary to keep managers motivated"? Fire them all, find new people that are VERY motivated and move forward. Done. Why does everything have to have a project plan attached to it? Your "incentive" to do your job to the best of your ability should be the fact that you HAVE a job! If you don't want it, there are 100+ people more qualified than you willing to do it better and for less money.
45Million? 11% of their operating cash last year... wow...
The paper sucks and they haven't figured out how to deal with a "non-print" world of news. Why should people get a bonus for that? Fire them all.
