The Tribune Company on Monday became the largest casualty of the crisis in US newspapers, filing for bankruptcy protection in a blow to Sam Zell, whose $8.2bn leveraged buy-out closed only a year ago.

Mr Zell, a Chicago property tycoon whose history of turning around distressed assets earned him the nickname of “grave dancer”, had hoped to forge a new model for newspapers but was overwhelmed by an accelerating decline in print advertising revenue.