Tribune Company, owner of KDAF-TV 33 in Dallas, newspapers like the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field, will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware.
The Associated Press and the Wall Street Journal are reported recently that the company had hired financial advisers to guide it through a bankruptcy filing.
Tribune was taken private in a $8.2 billion buyout led by Sam Zell last December. The company said last week that its debt load had increased to $11.8 billion, up from $9.4 billion in December of last year.
The company had expected advertising revenue at its newspapers to pay the principal and interest on its debt, but the economic slowdown has forced declines in that sector making it likely that Tribune will not have the cash flow to pay the $1 billion in interest payments that are due this year.
