The ESOP was an important part of buyer Sam Zell’s tax-planning strategy two years ago, when he led an effort to acquire Tribune Co through an ESOP-based S-Corp. The company quickly ran into problems servicing its debt due to the advertising problems at newspapers, and has been in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for months. Now the Tribune-owned Los Angeles Times reports that the ESOP, now filled with “worthless shares”, will be succeeded by a more conventional 401(k) retirement plan for employees. As Times writer Michael Oneal says, “Eliminating the ESOP plan signals that Tribune management and the company’s creditors figured out that the complexity of keeping the ESOP in place was more costly than paying taxes.”