Details of The Tribune Company’s Q1 performance won’t be released until mid-May, but the media company sought to provide a general view of how it did since going private in December. In the words of the maverick Chairman and CEO Sam Zell, revenue trends are significantly worse than expected, primarily due to significant erosion in classified revenues. Zell told investors to expect in double-digit declines in print ad dollars in Q1, adding that the dismal economy may force Tribune to sell off some of its assets, despite his initial goal of keeping the all Tribune units together. The company is currently finalizing the necessary paperwork for Major League Baseball as it seeks to sell the Chicago Cubs.

Later in the call, Zell acknowledged that he’s considering selling Long Island-based NY Newsday. Some of the prospective buyers mentioned in recent weeks include Jared Kushner, owner of the New York Observer, Rupert Murdoch and News Corp. (NYSE: NWS), the Dolans and Cablevision (NYSE: CVC), and Mort Zuckerman, owner of the NY Daily News. Tribune would like to raise at least $500 million on the sale.

-- Classified takes a hit: Next, Chandler Bigelow, CFO, recounted 2007’s mostly negative results. Both retail and national advertising were down 4 percent, while classified fell 18 percent, due mostly to weakness in housing and employment, especially at its Florida papers. As industry trends go, online represented one of the few bright spots. Online classifieds were up 9 percent last year, compared to print listings, which plummeted 23 percent. Classifieds represented one-third of the publishing dollars and contributed to three quarters of the decline of ad revenue.

-- Online growth continues: Overall, online revenues grew 13 percent, with non-classified banner ads up 33 percent. 2007, Online represented 9 percent of total publishing revenues, up slightly from 7 percent the year before. As for Tribune’s collective internet audience, Bigelow claimed monthly uniques averaged 13 million visitors, up 17 percent over 2006. The company expects online, as well as broadcast to weather the storm in Q1, but not enough to offset the staggering losses in print. Webcast

Updated: Also, the company announced a slew of new appointments. Among them Jerry Kersting, the former CFO for Clear Channel’s (NYSE: CCU) radio division (surprise, surprise), has joined Tribune, in the newly created Tribune position of EVP.  He is responsible for identifying opportunities and efficiencies for the company’s businesses, a considerable mission, given Tribune’s $12.8 billion debt incurred when Sam Zell took the company private earlier this year, as Mediaweek points out.

-- Some online activity being pulled back: Randy Michaels, the former CEO of Clear Channel who joined Tribune in December as EVP and CEO of Interactive and Broadcasting, said the company would continue to focus on interactive projects that “continue to make us money.” And so, the company will be cutting back on the ones that aren’t producing immediate revenue. Michaels: “In January, there were over 80 active projects in interactive. In my opinion, most of them were cool or neat or slick but were unlike to ever give cash flow. We’ve cut that back to about 20 projects, all of which should make us money this year and which look beyond simply putting the newspaper online but instead, focus on not just ads, but referrals and e-commerce and using the technology of the internet to generate revenue.” (Seeking Alpha transcript)

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