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Headquarters:
435 N. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL 60611
Employees: 14,000
CEO: Peter Liguori
Privately held
Website:
http://www.tribune.com
Career Site
Tribune Corp. is one of America's leading media companies, operating businesses in publishing, interactive and broadcasting, including 10 daily newspapers, 23 television stations and cable station WGN America.
The company is owned by Oaktree Capital, Angelo Gordon & Co., JPMorgan and Chase. Tribune filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December 2008 due to large amount of debt.
In publishing, Tribune operates 10 leading daily newspapers including the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun and Orlando Sentinel, plus Spanish-language newspaper Hoy.
The newspaper division has been hurt by falling circulation and weak advertising growth due to competition from the Internet. The company's newspapers have laid off thousands of employees during the past several years.
Tribune Broadcasting owns and operates 23 major-market television stations and reaches more than 80 percent of U.S. television households. The group is anchored by WGN America, which can be seen in more than 70 million U.S. households via cable and satellite services. Thirteen Tribune stations are affiliates of The CW. Seven are FOX affiliates.
The company also operates popular websites for its newspaper properties and owns equity interest in major sites including Apartments.com, Cars.com, ForSaleByOwner.com and CareerBuilder.com.
Tribune Corp. announced in July plans to separate its print and broadcasting businesses into independent companies.
History
The Tribune company was founded in 1847
and on June 10, the Chicago Tribune published its first edition
in a one-room plant located at LaSalle and Lake Streets. The
original press run consisted of 400 copies printed on a hand
press.
Chicago's WGN radio (720 AM) went on the
air in 1924, its call letters reflecting the Chicago Tribune's
renowned slogan, "World's Greatest Newspaper." The
station was an innovator from the start. It was first to broadcast
the World Series, the Indianapolis 500 and the Kentucky Derby,
and broke new ground by introducing microphones in the courtroom
during the famous 1925 Scopes "monkey trial" in Tennessee.
Today, Tribune's original broadcast property is a 50,000-watt
Midwest powerhouse.
Tribune entered the infant television industry
in 1948, when it established WGN-TV in Chicago, followed by WPIX-TV
in New York. These stations became the foundation for Tribune
Television, today one of the country's largest independent TV
groups.
In 1981, Tribune would acquire the Chicago
Cubs baseball team from the Wrigley family for $20.5 million.
WGN Radio and WGN-TV had been broadcasting Cubs games since those
stations first went on the air. Since 1978, when WGN-TV became
a "superstation," the Cubs have been aired to a national
audience via cable. Today, Superstation WGN reaches about 60
million U.S. homes outside Chicago through cable and direct broadcast
satellite.
Tribune went public on the NYSE in 1983.
In 1995, the company acquired an equity
interest in the new WB television network and Tribune's TV stations
would become affiliates.
In 2000, Tribune would acquire Times-Mirror
company in the largest newspaper acquisition in history. The
Times Mirror merger added seven daily newspapers to the Tribune
fold, headlined by the Los Angeles Times, Newsday, The Baltimore
Sun and the Hartford Courant.
Tribune sold Long Island's Newsday newspaper to Cablevision Corp. for $650 million in July 2008.
In 2009, the company sold the Chicago Cubs baseball team for $845 million to the family of Joe Ricketts, owner of brokerage TD Ameritrade.
Benefits
Medical
:
Employees have the option to choose from among several types
of medical plans which, depending on work location, may include
a Preferred Provider Organization or PPO plan, a national HMO
plan, or local HMO plans. The plans provide a high level of coverage
for most types of medical services including hospitalization,
outpatient services, emergencies and preventive care.
Dental:
Employees can select a traditional dental plan where they can
go to any dentist for treatment or a managed dental plan where
they must see a network dentist. Both plans offer varying levels
of coverage for preventive, basic, major services and orthodontia.
Vision:
Employees have the option to elect a comprehensive vision service
plan at the employee only level for comprehensive vision care
including, but not limited to eye examinations and glasses or
contact lenses.
Retirement and Savings Plans
Tribune believes that employees and shareholders have long-term
goals and interests that can best be realized through increased
employee ownership in the company. Tribune's retirement and savings
plans include a combination of stock ownership as well as a 401(k)
plan to help employees secure their financial future.
Vacation and Holidays
Holidays:
Employees receive 10 paid holidays per year, some of which are
fixed and others that are floating holidays to meet personal
needs.
Vacation:
Employees can receive up to a week of vacation (depending on
the month of hire) during the calendar year of hire. Employees
will receive two weeks of vacation at the beginning of the calendar
year following their hire date. After four years of employment,
employees are eligible for three weeks of vacation and after
10 years, employees are eligible for four weeks of vacation.
Disability Benefits
The Tribune benefits program provides employees who are away
from work due to sickness or disability with all or a portion
of their base salary.
Paid Sick Days:
Employees receive a maximum of five paid sick days each year
for use in connection with their own illness or that of a child,
spouse, or parent. The benefit is prorated for new employees
during their first year with the company.
Short-Term Disability:
This program provides employees who have a medically certified
short-term disability with a portion of their base salary. Employees
are eligible for this benefit after six months with the company.
Long-Term Disability:
This plan is designed to continue part of base salary if an employee's
medically certified disability extends more than six months.
Employees may purchase this coverage at for the first six months
of employment. After six months of employment, some coverage
is provided to employees at no cost, with a buy-up portion also
available for purchase by the employee.
Life and Accident Benefits
The Tribune benefit package offers a number of life and accident
insurance plans to help protect employees and beneficiaries.
Coverage is also available for family members. Tribune provides
basic employee life insurance equal to one times base annual
salary plus commissions and business travel accident insurance
at no cost to employees. In addition, employees have the option
of purchasing the following additional coverages:
- Supplemental Employee Life Insurance
- Employee Accidental Death and Dismemberment
- Spouse/Domestic Partner Life Insurance
- Spouse/Domestic Partner Accidental Death and Dismemberment
- Dependent Children Life Insurance
- Dependent Children Accidental Death and Dismemberment
Continuing Education/Tuition Reimbursement:
The tuition reimbursement program repays employees a percentage
of the cost of tuition and related expenses when college coursework
is successfully completed from an accredited institution. The
course or degree program pursued must be approved and should
enable employees to more effectively meet the current and/or
future challenges associated with their position. This benefit
may vary by location.
Employee Assistance Program:
Sometimes the hardest part of facing life's challenges is knowing
where to turn for help. Tribune offers an Employee Assistance
Program (EAP) to help employees address this need. The EAP is
a confidential program, fully paid for by Tribune.
Group Legal Plan:
Employees may elect coverage under Tribune's Group Legal Services
Plan, which pays for part or all of the cost of certain legal
services, including a legal hotline, preparation of deeds, mortgages,
leases and simple wills.
Reimbursement Accounts:
Employees may reduce their taxable income by contributing to
Tribune's health care and/or dependent care accounts. Employees
may defer, on a pre-tax basis, up to $5,000 a year to pay for
eligible dependent care expenses or $5,000 for eligible health
care expenses. Amounts available are prorated during the first
year of employment.
Matching Gifts Program:
Employees' support of non-profit organizations can be enhanced
through the company's matching gifts program. Eligibility for
and availability of this program varies by location.
Updated August 23, 2013
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