Tribune Media will explore sale of businesses

Tribune has pushed to attract viewers to WGN with original programs like “Salem” and “Outsiders” – and it’s worked, with the network’s revenue from cable providers climbing 58 percent last quarter from a year earlier to $8.3 million.

Excluding the charges, quarterly earnings hit 63 cents per share, beating the 55 cents Wall Street consensus expectation.

Tribune Media, the entertainment company that was created by the 2014 split of Tribune Co., on Monday reported its latest financials and said it would explore asset sales, spin-offs and other strategic alternatives amid a weak stock price. With the help of outside advisers, we have made a decision to initiate a process to explore every possible strategic and financial option with one clear goal: to unlock the value of our stock.

Chairman BRUCE KARSH said, “The Board of Directors and management remain focused on maximizing shareholder value”.

Tribune Media (NYSE:TRCO) is up 9.3% as it uses an earnings report where it beat on top and bottom lines to say it’s exploring a sale of the company or its assets. Zacks figured EPS would be a penny higher than that estimate. “These positive results were driven by core advertising growth across our television group, substantial increases in retransmission consent and carriage fee revenues and continued vigilance on expenses”. The Television and Entertainment segment contributed $464 million in the quarter, while digital and data revenue came in it $71.10 million. But Tribune Media’s revenue will likely be buoyed by television advertising in 2016, a reliable standby for broadcast stations during election years. Importantly, we were able to return more than $1 billion to shareholders previous year.

Activity of Tribune Publishing Company (NYSE:TPUB) lands the stock on today’s most active list.

There was a lot going on at Tribune for an early Monday morning after the Oscars: Liguori has entered into a new two-year employment agreement, the company said on Monday. Finally, General Counsel Eddie Lazarus has been named chief strategy officer.

It also said that it would continue pursuing a plan to monetize its real estate portfolio, which includes the Tribune Tower in Chicago and part of the Los Angeles Times Square building in Los Angeles.

TRBAA stock closed Friday at $32.95 per share, up $1.51, or 4.8 percent.