• Chicago Tribune, Monday, June 12, 2006 11 AM

The head of Tribune Co. is apparently in a fighting mood, and ready to resist any attempts to water down a restructuring plan and $2 billion stock buyback that is vehemently opposed by some of his largest shareholders, the company's flagship newspaper reports. Dennis FitzSimons made a decision last month to move ahead with the plan, picking a fight that "may end up defining his career," according to a Sunday story in the Chicago Tribune. "We are not going to be intimidated," says one inside source. "I don't think they know well who they are dealing with." FitzSimons is in a dust-up with the Chandler family, who controlled Times Mirror before Tribune gobbled it up in 2000. Since the $8.3 billion takeover, "readership has fallen, circulation scandals have erupted, and, most damaging of all, Tribune got hit last year with a $1 billion tax bill related to a complex Times Mirror transaction that occurred before the merger," the report says. A key issue now is who would take the tax hit from a restructuring, and FitzSimons is apparently determined that it won't be his company or its shareholders.

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