The book appears to be all but closed on the Michael Ferro era at Tribune Publishing.
The executive and his Merrick Ventures have sold a 25.2% stake in Tribune to Alden Global Capital, making the New York-based hedge fund Tribune’s largest shareholder.
Along with the nearly $118 million deal for 9.1 million shares, which were priced at $13 apiece, the parties are in talks to add two board seats to the Tribune board. That would give Alden two seats out of eight, commensurate with its 25% stake in the company.
Ferro exited in the spring of 2018 as chairman of the board at Tronc — which was the company’s name for a period of years, in a widely derided effort to convey “Tribune online content” though an ungainly shorthand. Just hours after his “retirement” announcement, a Fortune magazine article detailed allegations of unwanted sexual advances by Ferro. Before his departure, Ferro and Tribune agreed to...
The executive and his Merrick Ventures have sold a 25.2% stake in Tribune to Alden Global Capital, making the New York-based hedge fund Tribune’s largest shareholder.
Along with the nearly $118 million deal for 9.1 million shares, which were priced at $13 apiece, the parties are in talks to add two board seats to the Tribune board. That would give Alden two seats out of eight, commensurate with its 25% stake in the company.
Ferro exited in the spring of 2018 as chairman of the board at Tronc — which was the company’s name for a period of years, in a widely derided effort to convey “Tribune online content” though an ungainly shorthand. Just hours after his “retirement” announcement, a Fortune magazine article detailed allegations of unwanted sexual advances by Ferro. Before his departure, Ferro and Tribune agreed to...
- 11/19/2019
- by Dade Hayes
- Deadline Film + TV
ICM Partner’s Chief Operating Officer Justin Dearborn and chief human resources officer Cindy Ballard are headed for the exit.
An ICM spokesman confirmed to TheWrap that both executives resigned earlier this week, capping brief stints at the Hollywood talent agency.
According to the spokesman, both Dearborn and Ballard are leaving on amicable terms. They will stay on through the end of the year to assist with the transition, though no successors have been named at this point.
Also Read: ICM Partners Files Motion in WGA Lawsuit to Have Complaints Against Agency Thrown Out
Dearborn joined ICM after stepping down from his post as CEO and chairman of Tribune Publishing earlier this year.
Dearborn had been close to many of the scandals surrounding Tribune in recent years. He assumed that top job in March 2018 after his predecessor, Michael Ferro, was forced out in the wake of a #MeToo scandal. Dearborn...
An ICM spokesman confirmed to TheWrap that both executives resigned earlier this week, capping brief stints at the Hollywood talent agency.
According to the spokesman, both Dearborn and Ballard are leaving on amicable terms. They will stay on through the end of the year to assist with the transition, though no successors have been named at this point.
Also Read: ICM Partners Files Motion in WGA Lawsuit to Have Complaints Against Agency Thrown Out
Dearborn joined ICM after stepping down from his post as CEO and chairman of Tribune Publishing earlier this year.
Dearborn had been close to many of the scandals surrounding Tribune in recent years. He assumed that top job in March 2018 after his predecessor, Michael Ferro, was forced out in the wake of a #MeToo scandal. Dearborn...
- 9/28/2019
- by Trey Williams
- The Wrap
Two top executives are out at ICM Partners.
Chief operating officer Justin Dearborn and chief human resources officer Cindy Ballard are leaving, capping brief tenures for both at the Hollywood talent agency. An ICM spokesperson confirmed that Dearborn and Ballard resigned this week, adding that both are leaving the agency on amicable terms, and that both will remain onboard through the end of the year to assist with the transition.
No successor to either exec has yet been identified.
Dearborn exits just seven months after he joined ICM from publishing Tribune Publishing. There, Dearborn spent three years as chairman and CEO. During his tenure, the company was affected by sexual harassment controversies at the Los Angeles Times, unrelated to Dearborn, which involved former Tribune Publishing chairman Michael Ferro. Dearborn resigned in January from his post at Tronc.
Prior to his time at Tribune Publishing, Dearborn was CEO of technology firm Merge Healthcare Inc.
Chief operating officer Justin Dearborn and chief human resources officer Cindy Ballard are leaving, capping brief tenures for both at the Hollywood talent agency. An ICM spokesperson confirmed that Dearborn and Ballard resigned this week, adding that both are leaving the agency on amicable terms, and that both will remain onboard through the end of the year to assist with the transition.
No successor to either exec has yet been identified.
Dearborn exits just seven months after he joined ICM from publishing Tribune Publishing. There, Dearborn spent three years as chairman and CEO. During his tenure, the company was affected by sexual harassment controversies at the Los Angeles Times, unrelated to Dearborn, which involved former Tribune Publishing chairman Michael Ferro. Dearborn resigned in January from his post at Tronc.
Prior to his time at Tribune Publishing, Dearborn was CEO of technology firm Merge Healthcare Inc.
- 9/28/2019
- by Joe Otterson
- Variety Film + TV
Tribune Publishing chairman and CEO Justin Dearborn has stepped down from both his positions, the company announced Thursday.
The departing executive will be replaced by two successors, Timothy P. Knight, who will take the helm as CEO, and David Dreier, as chairman of the board.
“I am proud of what we have accomplished over the last several years. Tribune Publishing has a tremendously talented team and I am confident that the Company is in great hands to build on that progress under Tim’s leadership going forward,” Dearborn said in a statement.
Also Read: Former Tribune Publishing Chairman Accused of Calling Eli Broad Part of a 'Jewish Cabal' (Report)
The executive had been close to many of the scandals surrounding the company in recent years. He assumed the top job in March 2018 after his predecessor, Michael Ferro, was forced out in the wake of a #MeToo scandal. Dearborn was known...
The departing executive will be replaced by two successors, Timothy P. Knight, who will take the helm as CEO, and David Dreier, as chairman of the board.
“I am proud of what we have accomplished over the last several years. Tribune Publishing has a tremendously talented team and I am confident that the Company is in great hands to build on that progress under Tim’s leadership going forward,” Dearborn said in a statement.
Also Read: Former Tribune Publishing Chairman Accused of Calling Eli Broad Part of a 'Jewish Cabal' (Report)
The executive had been close to many of the scandals surrounding the company in recent years. He assumed the top job in March 2018 after his predecessor, Michael Ferro, was forced out in the wake of a #MeToo scandal. Dearborn was known...
- 1/18/2019
- by Jon Levine
- The Wrap
2018 was hard for a lot of media folks, but particularly so for this rogues’ gallery. For some, it was MeToo, for others, industry headwinds were too much. And for more still, disgrace and ignominy came after just saying the wrong thing.
Les Moonves: Once celebrated for his leadership of CBS, Moonves faced multiple allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct for which he was ultimately fired. CBS said in December that they would seek to deny him a roughly $120 million severance package.
Laura Ingraham: Long a divisive figure even on the right, the Fox News host might have avoided the losers column were it not for a sponsor boycott launched against her by Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg in March. Months later, advertisers are still wary of appearing on the program.
Michael Ferro/Tronc: The leadership of Michael Ferro has now made Tronc synonymous with mismanagement. In addition to leaving...
Les Moonves: Once celebrated for his leadership of CBS, Moonves faced multiple allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct for which he was ultimately fired. CBS said in December that they would seek to deny him a roughly $120 million severance package.
Laura Ingraham: Long a divisive figure even on the right, the Fox News host might have avoided the losers column were it not for a sponsor boycott launched against her by Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg in March. Months later, advertisers are still wary of appearing on the program.
Michael Ferro/Tronc: The leadership of Michael Ferro has now made Tronc synonymous with mismanagement. In addition to leaving...
- 12/31/2018
- by Jon Levine
- The Wrap
The Los Angeles Times was restive on Thursday after a bombshell NPR story on Wednesday reporting that former Times editor and publisher Davan Maharaj had secretly recorded Michael Ferro — then chairman of tronc, the paper’s parent company — calling L.A. billionaire Eli Broad a member of a “Jewish cabal” that controlled Los Angeles.
In addition, Maharaj’s attorney confirmed that he had reached a substantial financial settlement after he was fired earlier this year in a deal that NPR said was worth $2.5 million.
In response to the reports about its own operations, many employees on Thursday were quick to disparage Ferro, Maharaj and Tribune Publishing.
“Obviously everyone was disgusted with the story — every part of it,” Matt Pearce, a national correspondent for the Times and officer of the L.A. Times Guild, told TheWrap on Thursday. “The story describes anti-Semitism by our old chairman, millions wasted on yet another...
In addition, Maharaj’s attorney confirmed that he had reached a substantial financial settlement after he was fired earlier this year in a deal that NPR said was worth $2.5 million.
In response to the reports about its own operations, many employees on Thursday were quick to disparage Ferro, Maharaj and Tribune Publishing.
“Obviously everyone was disgusted with the story — every part of it,” Matt Pearce, a national correspondent for the Times and officer of the L.A. Times Guild, told TheWrap on Thursday. “The story describes anti-Semitism by our old chairman, millions wasted on yet another...
- 12/13/2018
- by Jon Levine
- The Wrap
Former Tribune Publishing chairman Michael Ferro described California billionaire and civic leader Eli Broad as being part of a “Jewish cabal” during a company meeting in 2016, according to an NPR report published Wednesday.
Ferro, who exited the company in March after a tumultuous tenure, made the remarks during a 2016 strategy dinner at an upscale restaurant near the company’s Chicago headquarters, NPR reporter David Folkenflik reported, citing two unnamed individuals who attended the event.
Earlier this year, Tribune paid a $2.5 million settlement to a fired Tribune executive in order to avoid a lawsuit that would have led to public disclosure of Ferro’s alleged remarks about Broad, NPR reported, citing three people with knowledge of the deal. The Los Angeles Times later reported that it was former Los Angeles Times publisher and editor Davan Maharaj who received the payout.
Also Read: National Enquirer Parent Company Admits Paying Off Karen McDougal...
Ferro, who exited the company in March after a tumultuous tenure, made the remarks during a 2016 strategy dinner at an upscale restaurant near the company’s Chicago headquarters, NPR reporter David Folkenflik reported, citing two unnamed individuals who attended the event.
Earlier this year, Tribune paid a $2.5 million settlement to a fired Tribune executive in order to avoid a lawsuit that would have led to public disclosure of Ferro’s alleged remarks about Broad, NPR reported, citing three people with knowledge of the deal. The Los Angeles Times later reported that it was former Los Angeles Times publisher and editor Davan Maharaj who received the payout.
Also Read: National Enquirer Parent Company Admits Paying Off Karen McDougal...
- 12/12/2018
- by Jon Levine
- The Wrap
A little more than two years after Tribune Publishing Co. now infamously changed its name to the Wall Street collective head-scratcher tronc, Inc., the company is officially changing its name back. The Chicago-based publishing company will resume trading on the Nasdaq under the symbol Tpco, replacing Trnc, on October 10.
It’s been a wild ride for the company soon to be formerly known as tronc (that’s with a lower-case “t”) since June 2, 2016, when new then-new chairman Michael Ferro made the announcement that Tribune would be known as tronc — short for “Tribune online content,” apparently to differentiate it from a company that owned newspapers.
Twitter was unkind, as were branding experts. “It hit all of the wrong things on what would create an impactful new name,” Matthew Quint, director of the Columbia Business School’s Center on Global Brand Leadership, told Deadline at the time. “It’s created something that is laughable.
It’s been a wild ride for the company soon to be formerly known as tronc (that’s with a lower-case “t”) since June 2, 2016, when new then-new chairman Michael Ferro made the announcement that Tribune would be known as tronc — short for “Tribune online content,” apparently to differentiate it from a company that owned newspapers.
Twitter was unkind, as were branding experts. “It hit all of the wrong things on what would create an impactful new name,” Matthew Quint, director of the Columbia Business School’s Center on Global Brand Leadership, told Deadline at the time. “It’s created something that is laughable.
- 10/4/2018
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
Tronc swung the ax hard on the New York Daily News — cutting half the newspaper’s editorial staff, including editor-in-chief Jim Rich and managing editor Kristen Lee.
Tronc, in an announcement sent Monday to employees of the 99-year-old tabloid, said the massive cutbacks will include refocusing the paper’s coverage on breaking news.
“We are fundamentally restructuring the Daily News,” the company said in the memo. “We are reducing today the size of the editorial team by approximately 50% and re-focusing much of our talent on breaking news — especially in areas of crime, civil justice and public responsibility.” Over the last few years, the tabloid’s newsroom staff has declined from several hundred to between about 75-100 people, the New York Times reported.
Tronc has named Robert York, previously publisher and editor-in-chief of the company’s Morning Call newspaper in Allentown, Pa., to head the NY Daily News as of next...
Tronc, in an announcement sent Monday to employees of the 99-year-old tabloid, said the massive cutbacks will include refocusing the paper’s coverage on breaking news.
“We are fundamentally restructuring the Daily News,” the company said in the memo. “We are reducing today the size of the editorial team by approximately 50% and re-focusing much of our talent on breaking news — especially in areas of crime, civil justice and public responsibility.” Over the last few years, the tabloid’s newsroom staff has declined from several hundred to between about 75-100 people, the New York Times reported.
Tronc has named Robert York, previously publisher and editor-in-chief of the company’s Morning Call newspaper in Allentown, Pa., to head the NY Daily News as of next...
- 7/23/2018
- by Todd Spangler
- Variety Film + TV
As Tronc announced today’s closing of its sale of the Los Angeles Times and San Diego Union-Tribune for $590 million including the assumption of liabilities, multiple press reports said it plans to surrender its controversial name.
Short for “Tribune Online Content” (and also an obscure bit of British slang), Tronc as a corporate brand tipped into self-satire when it was unveiled in 2016. Along with its rainbow-colored logo, the company used unnerving promotional videos to roll out bizarrely ambitious plans to pump out hundreds of videos a day and rely on artificial intelligence to target readers. While the Times, Baltimore Sun and other newspapers in its portfolio have storied, Pulitzer-winning roots, Tronc promoted a digital run-and-gun strategy that unsettled many editorial staffers.
The publishing arm of Tribune split off from the rest of Tribune Media in 2014 after the whole company emerged from bankruptcy. Driving its eccentric assault on the norms...
Short for “Tribune Online Content” (and also an obscure bit of British slang), Tronc as a corporate brand tipped into self-satire when it was unveiled in 2016. Along with its rainbow-colored logo, the company used unnerving promotional videos to roll out bizarrely ambitious plans to pump out hundreds of videos a day and rely on artificial intelligence to target readers. While the Times, Baltimore Sun and other newspapers in its portfolio have storied, Pulitzer-winning roots, Tronc promoted a digital run-and-gun strategy that unsettled many editorial staffers.
The publishing arm of Tribune split off from the rest of Tribune Media in 2014 after the whole company emerged from bankruptcy. Driving its eccentric assault on the norms...
- 6/18/2018
- by Dade Hayes
- Deadline Film + TV
Tronc chairman Michael Ferro stepped down from the company’s board Monday, just a hours before Fortune published a story accusing him of sexual misconduct towards two women during his time as head of a Chicago investment firm. According to Fortune, Ferro forcibly kissed Katheryn Minshew, CEO and co-founder of The Muse in 2013, after investing in her startup a year earlier. Another woman, Hagan Kappler, an executive at Ingersoll Rand, a manufacturing giant, told Fortune that Ferro groped her in his Las Vegas hotel suite during a meeting. “I stopped thinking in complete thoughts. My whole body felt like ice,” Minshew told Fortune....
- 3/19/2018
- by Jon Levine and Itay Hod
- The Wrap
The chairman of the company that owns the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and New York Daily News has awarded himself $15 million in consulting contracts from the publishing conglomerate, according to an SEC filing. The document, which was filed on Friday afternoon ahead of the Christmas break, provides Merrick Media — the consulting firm owned by tronc chairman Michael Ferro — a three-year contract at $5 million per year “to provide certain management expertise and technical services.” The contract provides for payment on the first of the year. Also Read: Tronc Paid Ross Levinsohn's Consultancy $600K for This Reco: Hire Ross...
- 12/25/2017
- by Sharon Waxman
- The Wrap
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