CHICAGO -- Tribune Co. shareholders overwhelmingly approved the $8.2 billion buyout of the media conglomerate Tuesday, but the transaction still needs financing and federal waivers.
Preliminary results indicated 97 percent of those casting votes approved the deal led by billionaire Sam Zell, marking the simplest step remaining in the torturous path to new ownership that began when the ailing newspaper publisher put itself up for sale last year.
The owner of 11 daily newspapers, 23 TV stations and the Chicago Cubs still needs the Federal Communications Commission to grant it waivers from rules banning same-market ownership of television and newspapers. After that, it will have to navigate in a troubled newspaper industry while under a huge and increasing debt burden.
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