Warming Back Up

While hopes for a proxy fight between the Trib and the Chandlers seemed to fall a few weeks ago, things just took a turn for the better:

Nelson Peltz, the billionaire activist investor who is embroiled in a proxy battle with the board of H.J. Heinz Co., disclosed Monday that he and partners had purchased 2.83 million shares, or 1.2 percent, of Tribune Co.

The Peltz group bought all of the shares during the quarter ended June 30 and disclosed the purchases in a quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A spokeswoman said Peltz wouldn't comment on the investment or whether his group still owns the shares. She also declined to say what, if anything, he planned to do next.

But investors said that he's not known for passive investing.

"They're not shrinking violets," said investor Eric McKissack of Chicago's Channing Capital Management, which owns about 600,000 Tribune shares. "That's the one thing you can say for sure."

...

Peltz and (partner Peter) May consider themselves change agents. They tend to cut jobs, shake up management and streamline bureaucracy when they take control of a company.

In a season where it's become nearly impossible to think about, much less write about, the Cubs, this can only be good news.