The Tribune Company, the largest employee-owned media company in the U.S. with dozens of newspapers, broadcasting stations and other outlets, filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday, according to a statement on the company's website.

Crippled by a $13 billion debt, the company was taken over a little less than a year ago by Chicago real estate mogul Sam Zell, a major Jewish philanthropist whose donations in Israel include $3.1 million in support of the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center as well as donations to the Israel Center for Social and Economic Progress think tank. He has also donated to the American Jewish Committee and a Chicago Jewish day school named after his father, according to The Forward.

He expressed optimism that filing for Chapter 11 would help the company regain its equilibrium and return to its former economic health, albeit slowly.