More Tribune numbers

As posted earlier, the Sam Zell-led company reported a second-quarter loss of $4.53 billion, but much of that is the result of a goodwill accounting charge that lowered the value of the $8.3-billion acquisition of Times Mirror in 2000. Normally, this would be the kind of story only accountants could love, but the $3.8-billion charge is another way of saying that Tribune essentially overpaid for Times Mirror, at least based on the current value of the brand. It doesn’t really change anything – Tribune doesn’t get to ask for some of its money back – but it is an indication of trouble long before Zell & Co. took over. It also shows what a horrible deal Tribune cut for Times Mirror. As for more recent numbers, the 10-Q shows that Tribune has managed to pare down more than half the $1.4-billion it will owe by next June. That would appear to at least buy some time, though whether it will hold off rumored layoffs this fall is anybody’s guess (here's an updated WSJ post on the results). All that aside, operations remain a disaster. Overall publishing revenues fell 11 percent, to $701 million. Broken out by category:

Retail $243 million -8%
National $120 million -12%
Classified $152 million - 26%
Total advertising $516 - 15%

And here's the really bad news, interactive revenues fell 4 percent. If you'd like to plow through the entire filing, here it is.