Tribune's second-largest shareholder hires Blackstone Group

Tribune Co.'s (NYSE:TRB) No. 2 shareholder has hired the Blackstone Group to advise it on its investment in the beleaguered media company, according to Bloomberg News.

What makes this development particularly embarrassing is that the shareholder in question is the Robert McCormack Tribune Foundation, which is run by Tribune CEO Dennis FitzSimons. The foundation's ties to Tribune are deep. Robert McCormack and Joseph Medill Peterson assumed ownership of the company in 1912. Tribune was founded by their grandfather Joseph Medill.

Blackstone has its work cut out for it. The Chicago-based company has gotten a lukewarm response at best ever since it announced in September that it was considering a sale. It's received unsolicited bids for the Los Angeles Times from three billionaires. Pressure is mounting on Tribune from big shareholders including The Chandler family, whose Times Mirror firm was sold to Tribune in 2000.

I am not sure whether the wannabe publishers of the LA Times are letting hubris cloud their business judgment. The newspaper business is lousy and will continue to be lousy for some time. Local owners will face the same issues of declining circulation and the shift of advertising online that have vexed media conglomerates. Still, I wouldn't be surprised if some of the advice Blackstone will give the McCormack Foundation will related to the sale of the paper, which despite huge problems remains a marquee property. You can bet that the shareholders of the New York Times Co. (NYSE:NYT) are watching these developments closely.