In the end, nobody is helping Tribune Co. It is going to have to help itself, the Wall Street Journal reports.

More than four months after Tribune put itself on the auction block, the newspaper and television concern is leaning away from accepting any of the offers made by outside bidders and instead opting for a restructuring it would do on its own.

Billed as a self-help plan by the board members and advisers working on it, the plan is widely expected to involve spinning off the company’s broadcast division and borrowing money to pay out a one-time cash dividend to shareholders, said people familiar with the situation. Tribune’s board is expected to discuss the structure of the plan at a meeting early this week, these people said.

A final decision hasn’t yet been made and it is possible the company will choose a different option. A self-help plan would represent an underwhelming conclusion to what has been a public tussle between Tribune and its biggest shareholder, the Chandler family. It would highlight the limited choices for newspaper companies facing restive shareholders and difficult business conditions, with readers and advertisers defecting from print to online media.

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