New Tribune Board to Include Peter Liguori, Other Entertainment Veterans

1:46 AM PST 12/31/2012 by Georg Szalai

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Ex-News Corp. and Yahoo exec Ross Levinsohn and former Disney exec Peter Murphy will also join the board as the media company emerges from bankruptcy.

Former top executives of Hollywood conglomerates are among prominent entertainment industry figures on the new board of Tribune Co., which is set to emerge from bankruptcy on Monday.

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Former News Corp. and Yahoo top executive Ross Levinsohn and former long-time Walt Disney executive Peter Murphy will be among the board members, the LA Times, which is part of the media company, reported.

Former Discovery Communications COO and News Corp. veteran Peter Liguori, who is expected to be named CEO of Tribune in the coming weeks, Craig Jacobson, the lawyer for Ryan Seacrest and Jennifer Aniston, and current Tribune CEO Eddy Hartenstein are also expected to be among the new board members, it said.

The two other members of the seven-person board will be Bruce Karsh and Kenneth Liang of investment firm Oaktree Capital Management, which owns a stake of about 23 percent of the new Tribune.

Tribune owns 23 TV stations, eight daily newspapers, including the LA Times and Chicago Tribune, and cable station WGN. It also owns nearly a third of the Food Network.

It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy late in 2008 after a buyout by real estate mogul Sam Zell that left the company with much debt. In one of the longest bankruptcy cases in U.S. history, Tribune previously failed to emerge and resume normal business amid disputes between various debtors.

"Tribune is far stronger than it was when we began the Chapter 11 process four years ago and, given the budget planning we've done, the company is well-positioned for success in 2013," the LA Times quoted a staff note from Hartenstein on Sunday night.

Tribune is expected to consider a possible sale of its newspapers. Its current board includes Zell and former ICM boss Jeff Berg.

Email: Georg.Szalai@thr.com
Twitter: @georgszalai