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* Joe Cahill…
There are excessive executive compensation packages, and then there are outright giveaways. Put Tronc’s recent payment of $15 million to former Chairman Michael Ferro in the latter category.
The publisher of the Chicago Tribune and other newspapers disclosed last week that it accelerated payment of $15 million in fees under a three-year consulting agreement with Ferro and his private company, handing over the entire amount in the first quarter. Ferro retired from Tronc in March, shortly before Fortune magazine reported that two women had accused him of making unwanted sexual advances. A month later, he announced plans to sell his controlling stake in Tronc to a group including a distant relative of the McCormick family that once ran the Tribune. […]
Tronc has provided scant detail on what services Ferro has performed or will perform under the consulting agreement. The agreement itself, attached to a Tronc filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, contains no clause requiring a lump-sum advance payout of the entire $15 million under any circumstances. […]
Tronc’s financial outlook only grows darker, as online revenue sources fail to offset the impact of digital competition on print advertising dollars. The top line dipped again in the first quarter, falling 3 percent to $355.6 million, and the net loss quintupled to $14.8 million. (By the way, Tronc blamed most of the loss on the $15 million payment to Ferro.)
So, almost its entire quarterly loss is blamed on the accelerated Ferro payment. Great business practices.
* Today is tronc shareholder meeting day…
Chicago Tribune Guild members outside the @tronc shareholder meeting. It's a beautiful day to stand united! #TribUnion #FerrosMillions pic.twitter.com/UuEaHu0Fy4
— Chicago Tribune Guild (@CTGuild) May 18, 2018
* Tribune writer and union member Michael Hawthorne noted earlier today that tronc paid $1.3 million to lease a jet from a Ferro company and paid a half million dollars for stadium suite leases, including apparently paying for Ferro to go to the Cubs’ World Series while tronc “fired sportswriters, cut back on travel and operated a bug-riddled website seemingly designed to drive readers away.” His conclusion…
6/6 Why is Tronc wasting $15 million on Michael Ferro, when it could be investing that money in journalism that serves Chicago and other cities? This is one reason why the Tribune newsroom organized a union. #FerrosMillions #TribUnion pic.twitter.com/zCH0Ac6b5a
— Michael Hawthorne (@scribeguy) May 18, 2018
* Today…
The @CTGuild is holding a picket outside of the @tronc shareholder meeting this morning to find out why Michael Ferro got a $15 million for consulting work through 2020. @tronc — you owe your shareholders and explanation. pic.twitter.com/Tte78xSJMU
— Carolina A. Miranda (@cmonstah) May 18, 2018
LOL did @tronc seriously call the police on the @CTGuild members outside the shareholder meeting?
Dispatcher asking 018th District lieutenant if this was planned and whether she needs to make notifications. #chicago #twill #chicagoscanner
— Peter Nickeas (@PeterNickeas) May 18, 2018
.@tronc called the cops on us @ctguild as we protested corporate malfeasance and @marywizchicago sang union standards outside of the shareholders meeting. Real classy hahahahaha https://t.co/wvdTMSvr07
— Joseph Hernandez (@joeybear85) May 18, 2018
Not the first time @chicagotribune journalists have had the cops called on us; a first for it to be our own company https://t.co/4xCn2O5jjE
— Alison Bowen (@byalisonbowen) May 18, 2018
We're so threatening. pic.twitter.com/pgnWMvT24C
— Joseph Hernandez (@joeybear85) May 18, 2018
posted by Rich Miller
Friday, May 18, 18 @ 1:00 pm
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I read the part that said the contract didn’t require “a lump-sum advance payout of the entire $15 million under any circumstances” but would it really be that easy to break the contract entirely? To me it looks more like a buyout, “Here, take your money and get out and never speak to us again”, not a golden parachute. But I obviously don’t know that.
Comment by Perrid Friday, May 18, 18 @ 1:11 pm
Tronc is disgusting. What a tough time to be a reporter. I’d never give that crap company a dime.
Comment by PJ Friday, May 18, 18 @ 1:20 pm
Dangerous looking group, call the po po immediately. Trib saved the city from burning buildings and turned over cars….
Comment by 44th Friday, May 18, 18 @ 1:22 pm
You’d think there’s the makings of a shareholder lawsuit in regards the Ferro shenanigans. Tronc is a publicly traded corporation; just because he was the largest shareholder doesn’t give him the right to abuse his position to rob the place blind.
Comment by wordslinger Friday, May 18, 18 @ 1:31 pm
=bug-riddled website seemingly designed to drive readers away=
That’s why I canceled my subscription. It was around the time they added the “pay to promote your comment” brilliant feature.
Comment by Robert the 1st Friday, May 18, 18 @ 1:35 pm
Pretty pathetic of tronc to call the cops on peaceful demonstrators. This company totally justifies workers forming a union.
Hang tough, CT Guild. Many are standing with you.
Comment by Grandson of Man Friday, May 18, 18 @ 1:56 pm
Those union “thugs” look pretty dangerous to me! LOL, just like the teacher union “thugs” who picketed in WVA, OK, AZ, KY, NC, etc.
Comment by Nearly Normal Friday, May 18, 18 @ 2:16 pm
I didn’t know what Ferro looked like until now. He is not as regal as Sir Conrad Black.
Comment by Claud Peppers Friday, May 18, 18 @ 2:26 pm
= It was around the time they added the “pay to promote your comment” brilliant feature. =
That was a truly bizarre “feature”. It’s gone now, with nothing in its place (no commenting for now at all).
Comment by JoanP Friday, May 18, 18 @ 2:37 pm
Do they really need the police? Can’t they send John Kass down to turn a hose on them?
Comment by 47th Ward Friday, May 18, 18 @ 2:59 pm
For a chuckle, a section from the Trib’s “Statement of Principles”:
The Tribune believes in the traditional principles of limited government; maximum individual responsibility; and minimum restriction of personal liberty, opportunity and enterprise. It believes in free markets, free will and freedom of expression.
Comment by Moe Berg Friday, May 18, 18 @ 3:06 pm
–He is not as regal as Sir Conrad Black.–
That’s Conrad Moffat Black, the Right Honourable Lord Black of Crohssharbour, KSG, to you.
Also, convicted felon, deported to Canada, barred from re-entering the United States.
Also, convict
Comment by wordslinger Friday, May 18, 18 @ 3:20 pm
Rough crowd of union thugs. Looks like they might riot and throw kombucha on someone.
Comment by Leigh John-Ella Friday, May 18, 18 @ 3:42 pm