Tribune Co. to pay Randy Michaels $675,000 settlement

This should get your blood boiling. Michaels, who resigned under pressure after reports of his Animal House behavior at the Chicago-based media giant (and parent of the LAT), had demanded that he receive a $900,000 termination fee under terms of his contract (actually his management incentive bonus). His lawyers and Tribune's lawyers settled on $675,000, plus $50,000 to cover legal fees. From the Chicago Tribune:

His argument, [court documents] said, was that he was effectively "terminated without cause," which would trigger the payment under terms of the bonus plan. Tribune Co. disagreed, but decided to settle to avoid protracted litigation over the issue, the document said. After "extensive negotiations" between the company and Michaels' lawyers, he agreed to the reduced amount. The settlement also includes a non-disparagement clause and several provisions that limit the company's future liability to claims brought by Michaels.Sources say the settlement, which will have to be approved by the judge in Tribune Co.'s nearly three-year-old Chapter 11 proceeding, represents the only exit payment Michaels will receive.

In case you're a little hazy on what a jerk this guy was, here's the David Carr piece in the NYT that led to his departure. And here's a snippet:

A woman who used to work at the Tribune Company in a senior position, but did not want to be identified because she now worked at another media company in Chicago, said that Mr. Michaels and Marc Chase, who was brought in to run Tribune Interactive, had a loud conversation on an open balcony above a work area about the sexual suitability of various employees. "The conversation just wafted down on all of the people who were sitting there." She also said that she was present at a meeting where a female executive jovially offered to bring in her assistant to perform a sexual act on someone in a meeting who seemed to be in a bad mood.