Tribune Co., owner of the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and six other daily papers, emerged from bankruptcy, four years after a doomed leveraged buyout by billionaire Sam Zell led to chapter 11 proceedings, Bloomberg News reported today. Distributions to creditors have been initiated, the Chicago-based company said today. As part of its exit from bankruptcy, Tribune Co. also closed on a new $1.1 billion term loan and a $300 million revolving credit line. Tribune Co. filed for bankruptcy after Zell, a real-estate developer, orchestrated an $8.3 billion leveraged buyout of the company in 2007, just before a global recession and a slump in print advertising devastated the newspaper industry. The buyout loaded Tribune with debt, and Zell failed to pull off a turnaround of the newspapers.
