Dow Jones Newswires | Tribune Co. won final court approval Friday
to send its Chapter 11 plan out for creditor votes, after the media
giant includes a mention of the latest in a series of management bonuses
it will be handing out this year.

Judge Kevin Carey of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del.,
authorized the Chicago media company to mail out an explanation of its
plan, supplemented by letters from supporters and foes of the
restructuring proposal.

At a hearing, Carey told Tribune to note its 2010 bonus proposal in the Chapter 11 plan explanation.

The Chicago media company has kept secret the names and amounts top executives will be paid, assuming it exits Chapter 11 on schedule and hits its targets.

However, some of the company’s top lenders this week said certain Tribune “executives (who, on information and belief, are equity holders of Tribune) will be paid up to $111.8 million in 2010 if certain benchmarks are reached.”

Represented by Wells Fargo Bank, the so-called bridge lenders faulted Tribune for a lack of disclosure about top executive pay during a heated battle over language that explains the bridge lenders’ treatment under the Chapter 11 plan.

The bridge lenders are getting only $74 million from Tribune’s restructuring, a 4.6 percent recovery. Thomas Lauria of White & Case, attorney for the group, pressed Tribune for clearer language in the plan explanation of the options for bridge lenders.

For example, the bridge lenders could refuse to go along with Tribune’s plan, and take their chances on suing fellow lenders or others, according to court papers.

The dispute with the bridge lenders held up by nearly a week Tribune’s effort to get Carey to rule it had given creditors enough information to allow them to decide whether to vote for its Chapter 11 exit plan.

Publisher of the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Baltimore Sun and other newspapers and operator of a string of broadcast outlets, Tribune filed for Chapter 11 in December 2008, a year after a leveraged buyout saddled it with an extra $8 billion in debt.

Chapter 11 plan documents say the company brought about $12 billion in debt into bankruptcy with it, and will have about $6 billion to distribute under the plan.

At its core, Tribune’s Chapter 11 plan incorporates a controversial settlement of a lawsuit over the LBO.

Major lenders J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Angelo Gordon & Co. support the settlement and the Chapter 11 plan, which would leave them owning sizeable stakes in a revamped Tribune.

Other top-ranking lenders say Tribune gave up too much, $425 million, to junior creditors  to get its executives, advisers and lenders off the hook in the potential lawsuit.