Chicago - Tribune, the publisher of eight major daily newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune, on Monday became the first major newspaper publisher to file for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection, the Associated Press reported. Tribune, which signaled the move in recent days by hiring Lazard as its financial advisor and law firm Sidley Austin as its special legal counsel, listed $13 billion in debt, and just $7.6 billion in assets.

Many newspaper executives, most infamously Tribune acquirer Sam Zell, have made an enemy out of Google and other online aggregators who disintermediate newspapers and all other traditional media. This is of course a wrongheaded way to think about content on the Web, since these aggregators drive a significant amount of traffic to newspapers. But the real fear inherent in the distrust of aggregators is that they are destroying the direct brand relationships that newspapers and other branded media have traditionally had with their audience.

Chicago - Media firm Tribune on Monday ended months of speculation about its future by accepting an $8.2 billion takeover offer from real estate mogul Sam Zell, the chairman of Equity Group Investments.

Baltimore - Tribune, the Chicago-based media company that owns a variety of newspapers and TV stations, could be sold by the end of the week, Bloomberg News reported.