Los Angeles Times’ parent Tribune Co. and its creditors are in the early stages of negotiating a plan of reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court that sources said likely would transfer control of the troubled media conglomerate from Chicago billionaire Sam Zell to a group of large banks and investors that holds $8.6 billion in senior debt.

The plan is still taking shape, the sources said, and much could change as negotiations continue.

But the general contours of a new capital structure are coming into focus, and the plan centers on a debt-for-equity swap that probably would give the senior lenders a large majority ownership stake in the reorganized company.

A source with knowledge of the situation said the plan would wipe out a $90 million warrant Zell negotiated as part of his $8.2 billion deal to take the company private in 2007. The warrant gives the Tribune Co. chairman the right to buy about 40 percent of the company for $500 million and is the basis of his control over Tribune Co., which owns the Chicago Tribune.

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