Michael Eisner is ready to cross the finish line.
An announcement on the former Disney CEO becoming the chairman of the Tribune Co., is imminent, a person familiar with the talks has told TheWrap.
“Right now, it’s going to be Eisner,” the person said. "The lenders are going to try to take the company. It's the only way they are going to get some of their money. But they're not ready yet."
Eisner's guardian angel in negotiations is his close friend John Angelo, one of the creditors who are poised to take control of the company from the current board of directors and management.
The announcement could come as early as next week, after the Labor Day holiday, the person said.
“Eisner is in the Old Media-to-New Media transformation business, that's why the creditors are talking to him,” the individual said. “They need a good old American guy, a face, a guy who can deal with bankers and convince them that he can get the company out of trouble. A lot of people involved think Eisner is that guy.”
Another person familiar with activity in the Eisner camp also confirmed that the former Disney CEO is the main focus of the search for a new Tribune boss.
"He's the guy," the person told TheWrap.
Neither Tribune HQ nor the Los Angeles Times, which broke the Eisner story last week, had comment. The same was true of JPMorgan Chase and John Angelo's investment firm, Angelo, Gordon & Co. -- two of the major creditors in the case. Both Angelo and JPMorgan walked out of reorganization talks with the media giant on Aug. 20, when the lenders rejected participation in the company’s proposed reorganization.
The company’s exclusive window for finding its own solution to the almost 21-month problem expired on Aug. 9, leaving the door open to its creditors to force a solution. But the Tribune board is still attempting to take charge of a solution.
It was supposed to have filed a new reorganization plan last week; instead, Tribune CEO Randy Michaels sent an email to the company’s employees saying that those talks were continuing. “Given the ongoing nature of those discussions, we have decided not to file any amendments to our plan at the present time,” he said.
If a reorganization plan is filed by Tribune, it is scheduled to be reviewed in court on Sept. 15.
Meanwhile, early Tuesday, Tribune filed a motion in Delaware seeking to retain legal counsel for a committee to oversee any reorganization schemes and to handle any lawsuits or claims that arise from the 2007 leveraged buyout that took the once-public company private.
The filing is partially a response to the critical Bankruptcy Examiner’s report of earlier this summer which, among other conclusions, predicted that a court could find the buyout legally vulnerable and result in several lawsuits against several of the involved parties.
