Tribune – the newspaper and TV-station empire soon to be delivered into the hands of real-estate magnate Sam Zell in a multi-billion dollar buyout – posted dismal financial results yesterday.

The embattled Chicago company swung to a first quarter loss of $15.6 million, or 6 cents a share, zapped by weakness across its businesses, which include the Los Angeles Times, Long Island’s Newsday, the Chicago Cubs baseball team and 23 broadcast-TV stations.

In the year-ago quarter, Tribune turned in a profit of $102.8 million, or 33 cents. Revenue fell 4.3 percent to $1.2 billion.