Greenspun joins board of media conglomerate

Friday, Dec. 21, 2007 | 7:21 a.m.

Las Vegas Sun

Brian Greenspun, editor of the Las Vegas Sun and chairman of the family-owned Greenspun Corporation, was elected Thursday as a director of the Tribune Co., a media conglomerate that owns the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune and about 30 other newspapers and TV outlets across the country.

The news came as Sam Zell, a billionaire Chicago real estate magnate, closed his deal to take the Tribune Co. private in a complicated $8.2 billion purchase.

In a statement announcing the long-awaited close of the transaction, the company noted that the Greenspun family, owner of the Sun, "has made a significant investment" in Tribune.

Greenspun and Zell have known each other for several years.

The transition of Tribune from public to private ownership was accomplished by merging Tribune with an acquisition subsidiary of the Tribune Employee Stock Ownership Plan. Zell assumed the roles of chairman of the board and chief executive officer.

In addition to Greenspun, elected to the board of directors were Hollywood talent agent Jeffrey S. Berg, chairman and chief executive officer of International Creative Management Inc.; William C. Pate, chief investment officer of Equity Group Investments LLC; Maggie Wilderotter, chairwoman and chief executive officer of Citizens Communications; and Frank E. Wood, chief executive officer of Secret Communications LLC, a venture capital company in Cincinnati.

Continuing on the board are William A. Osborn, CEO of Northern Trust Corp., and Betsy D. Holden, former president of global marketing at Kraft Foods Inc.

"I am delighted to be part of the very talented and dedicated Tribune team," Greenspun said Thursday. "My family has been in the media business for a long time and I hope to be able to bring some of that experience to the Tribune. I am also personally pleased to be associated with Sam Zell in what, I believe, can be an exciting adventure in 21st-century journalism."

In addition to owning the Sun, which was founded by patriarch Hank Greenspun in 1950, the Greenspun family publishes eight weekly community newspapers, a weekly business newspaper, a weekly alternative newspaper and numerous magazines in various markets across the country. The family also operates Vegas.com, the largest city destination travel Web site in the world, and develops real estate.

Besides the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune, the 20,000-employee Tribune Co. publishes Newsday, The Baltimore Sun, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel and the Hartford (Conn.) Courant. The company's broadcasting group operates 23 TV stations, Superstation WGN on national cable, Chicago's WGN-AM and the Chicago Cubs baseball team.