"It's a great day," newly-minted CEO Sam Zell says in an email to his "fellow investor" on his first day heading up Tribune Company. Mixing his metaphors and going for grandiose, Zell anounces an era in which the Tribune saves not just your soul but our nation's as well. "We will take intelligent risks and reward innovation," he says. "We will tear down bureaucracy and reward entrepreneurial spirit. We will compete fiercely but with integrity." We will use anaphora! We will! We will! We will! Email after the jump.

From: [redacted]@Tribune.com>
Date: Thu, 20 Dec 2007 12:07:30 -0600
Conversation: Tribune Transaction Closed!
Subject: Tribune Transaction Closed!

Fellow Investor:

It's a great day - for you, for me, and for this company.

We've now launched the boat together, and we have to start paddling. We've got a long way to go to shed all the things that tied us down in the past, and to realize the enormous potential we can create. You'll see a lot of changes in the coming months.

We will take intelligent risks and reward innovation.
We will tear down bureaucracy and reward entrepreneurial spirit.
We will compete fiercely but with integrity.
We will work hard and have fun.
Two important events for employees today and tomorrow will be broadcast live to our business units across the country:

* Today at 2:30 CDT (3:30 EDT, 12:30 PDT) we'll hold a press conference and take questions from reporters.
* And join me tomorrow at 11 a.m. CDT (12 EDT, 9 PDT) for an interview with the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times.

An audio webcast of the press conference will be available on Triblink and Tribune.com, and an audio webcast of the interview will be available on Triblink. Video from both events will be available on Tribune.com shortly after each concludes.

Attached is the press release we issued a short time ago.

I'm looking forward to meeting many of you during a site-visit road show in mid-January.

And, on an ongoing basis, I strongly encourage you to send your ideas, comments and questions to me at [redacted]@Tribune.com

Let's go for greatness.

Sam Zell