Former TV exec Liguori named Tribune CEO

[January 18, 2013]  LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Former television executive Peter Liguori was named chief executive of Tribune Co., the media conglomerate that recently emerged from a four-year bankruptcy with its creditors in charge.

Liguori, most recently the chief operating officer of Discovery Communications Inc., replaces Eddy Hartenstein, who will continue to serve as publisher and CEO of the Los Angeles Times.

Bruce Karsh, the president of Oaktree Capital Management, was named chairman of the board.

Tribune owns or operates 23 TV stations and 12 newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and Baltimore Sun. A leveraged buyout in 2007 left with the company with $13 billion in debt and forced it to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2008. It emerged from Chapter 11 on Dec. 31.

Liguori told the Tribune he hopes to keep the newspapers but has a duty to hear offers from interested buyers.

[Associated Press]

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