Tribune's last annual meeting?

CEO Dennis FitzSimons, who has become Sam Zell's go-to guy in making the case for the company going private, took an hour's worth of questions at this afternoon's shareholder's meeting in Chicago. FitzSimons deflected most everything and basically said it's all good. As reported by Crain's Chicago Business, a project manager for the Teamsters, which represents 2,000 Tribune workers, asked whether the risks inherent in the Zell purchase were being shared equally by the Chicago/Malibu billionaire and the company employees. Said FitzSimons: "We think that Sam’s interests and the employees' interests are really aligned because employees will do well if Sam does well and vice versa." You get the idea. Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa said that by structuring the new Tribune through an employee stock ownership plan, Zell places a "disproportionate amount of the financial risk" on employees. By the way, Zell couldn't make the meeting because he was in Europe (Tribune elected him to the board anyway). Also missing: the three board members representing the Chandlers.