• Chicago Tribune, Monday, June 5, 2006 11:15 AM

As he describes his ultimate boss as a fellow with "silver-flecked hair and neatly trimmed mustache" with the look of Ted Turner, Phil Rosenthal of the Chicago Tribune notes that the company will soon find out whether Dennis FitzSimons has the same kind of vision as the man who built CNN. Rosenthal writes in the wake of news that Tribune Company will shell out at least $2 billion to buy back shares of its battered stock by borrowing money, cutting costs, and selling off "non-core" assets. "This strategy, meant to stand as a testimonial to the company's confidence in its own value and expected performance, is easily [the] Tribune's boldest move since FitzSimons took its top job in 2004--and the best evidence to date of his vision of and for the company," he says. "As such, its repercussions inevitably will shape his legacy." So far, he continues, the only assets "deemed untouchable" are those in the company's top three markets: New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. But "Tribune management has declined to specify which assets are expendable, causing some anxiety internally," he adds.

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