bloggingbuyouts

If you are Sam Zell right now, you are probably sitting there wondering why on earth as an old billionaire that you thought an old world media property with very little in new media that you'd have to shrink and break apart to profitability was such a good idea. Tonight, that looks even more so the case.

According to MLB.com Tribune Co. rejected a no-tax proposal in the sale of Wrigley Field to the Illinois Sports facilities Authority, which also owns and operates the Chicago White Sox U.S. Cellular Field as well.

If you read the full article you'll see how this may also impact the sale of the Chicago Cubs as well. Zell announced in April 2007 that the Cubbies were to be sold. Interestingly enough, the Cubs are also in first place in the NL Central division.

Sam Zell formally completed his buyout of the Tribune Company yesterday. It only cost $8.2 billion and months of difficult negotiations -- but now he can go out and get the pitching his newly acquired Chicago Cubs have long needed to win it all. Well, maybe not. Word on the street is that he plans to sell the Cubs and Wrigley Field for a cool billion as soon as he can.

Zell has made it clear that he plans on allowing the various units within the Tribune Company to stand on their own feet. By his count, there are over 60 entities within the company, and each one needs to strike out on its own. As Zell put it, "As I've said over and over again, there are something like 60 entities in the Tribune Co. and I view it as 60 ways to get lucky."

Zell also plans to sell a number of Tribune assets -- and there are plenty to choose from. Tribune owns 23 television stations and nine newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune and the Baltimore Sun. (For a complete list of assets owned by the company, take a look at this Wikipedia page.) Tribune also owns stock in a number of companies, some or all of which could be liquidated for hundreds of millions of dollars, if not billions.

So while the media environment is a difficult one, and newspapers in particular face a difficult future, I wouldn't be surprised to see Zell turn the Tribune Company around, and in short order. He's already moved to get rid of the old guard, which had gotten fat on the troubled company. Former CEO Dennis FitzSimons stepped down yesterday, taking $38 million in cash and prizes with him. Losing a few more executives like that will do the Tribune a world of good -- and maybe with the money saved getting rid of the corporate fat cats, Zell can find a way to keep the Cubs and grab a World Series ring.

It is now being reported that billionaire Sam Zell will be acquiring the Tribune Company, owner of the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, and Chicago Cubs, for around 8.2 billion dollars. Shareholders will receive 34 dollars per share, and Zell will be selling the Cubs quickly, because he already owns a stake in the 2005 World Champion Chicago White Sox.

Shareholders may not be thrilled with the deal. While it does represent a 6% premium over the stock's closing price on Friday, it is close to the price the shares were trading at when the company originally put itself up for sale. At the time, analysts were predicting Tribune could fetch around 55 dollars per share. With icons like Sam Zell and Jack Welch making, or trying to make, large bets on newspapers, investors have to wonder: either these moguls are getting old and senile, or newspapers are seriously undervalued.