Excerpt: Retirement savings of Tribune Co. employees appear to have emerged largely unscathed after the media company's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing Monday. But the filing highlights the risks of plans that invest employee savings into company stock. One big potential exposure came via the employee stock ownership plan, or ESOP, which the company set up in 2007. Under the ESOP, Tribune was planning to contribute shares -- worth about 5% of each employee's pay -- into employee accounts each year. The first contribution was expected to be made in the first quarter, and it isn't clear whether this will happen or whether the shares will have any value after Tribune's bankruptcy filing. At this point, the employees technically haven't lost anything in the ESOP because their balances are still zero.

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