Sam Zell

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'Grave Dancer' Sam Zell, Real Estate Magnate, Dies
He Made a Fortune Buying
Distressed Properties
obituary

He Made a Fortune Buying Distressed Properties

'Grave dancer' Sam Zell is dead at 81

(Newser) - Sam Zell, a Chicago real estate magnate who earned a multibillion-dollar fortune and a reputation as "the grave dancer" for his ability to revive moribund properties, died on Thursday at age 81. Zell died at home due to complications from a recent illness, according to Equity Group Investments, a...

Trib CEO to Jump Before Being Pushed Out

Randy Michaels expected to resign this week

(Newser) - Weeks after the New York Times detailed the raucous behavior of Tribune CEO Randy Michaels, he is reported to be resigning. The Times article described a boys club atmosphere created by Michaels and his chief innovation officer, Lee Abrams, at the bankrupt newspaper and TV company. Abrams was recently fired,...

How Frat Boy Hijinks Helped Screw the Tribune Co.

Boss Randy Michaels 'offered $100 to waitress to flash her breasts'

(Newser) - The shockingly sexist frat boy hijinks of top managers of the Tribune Company created an alienating workplace and "bankrupt culture" that helped send the financially troubled media firm into a tailspin, reports the New York Times . Just after radio exec Randy Michaels was hired by billionaire owner Sam Zell...

Sam Zell Steps Down as Tribune CEO
Sam Zell
Steps Down as
Tribune CEO

Sam Zell Steps Down as Tribune CEO

Randy Michaels steps up as court ruling beats back creditors

(Newser) - Maverick takeover artist Sam Zell resigned as CEO of the Tribune Co. today, naming Randy Michaels as his successor. Zell is still chairman of the news giant he bought, disastrously, in 2007. Tribune, which has been bankrupt for almost a year, yesterday won an extension until February of the right...

Tribune Sells Cubs for $800M
 Tribune Sells Cubs for $800M 

Tribune Sells Cubs for $800M

Family will pay $800M for 95% stake in team, Wrigley field

(Newser) - It’s official: Tribune Co. has signed an agreement to sell a majority stake in the Chicago Cubs to the Ricketts family, the Chicago Tribune reports. Picked as the winning bidder for the franchise in January, family negotiated a deal to pay $800 million for a 95% stake in the...

Lenders, Not Zell, May Run Tribune Co.
 Lenders, Not Zell, 
 May Run Tribune Co. 
ANALYSIS

Lenders, Not Zell, May Run Tribune Co.

(Newser) - The bankrupt Tribune Company could emerge from protection with its top creditors—and not chairman Sam Zell—in charge, the Chicago Tribune reports. Zell exerts control based on $90 million he spent to secure the option of buying 40% of the company for $500 million, and a $250 million loan....

'I Made a Mistake' Buying Tribune Co.: Zell

Canny investor admits he backed a losing horse

(Newser) - Sam Zell is famous for his business acumen. He made a near-psychic call to sell his office-property company for billions just months before the market tanked. But the magnate now tells Bloomberg another deal he made was as boneheaded, in retrospect, as the Equity Office Properties deal was prescient: buying...

Times to Ax 300 Jobs, Local News Section

(Newser) - Amid growing gloom in the newspaper business, the Los Angeles Times plans to lay off 300 workers and shelve its local news section, LA Observed reports. Foreign and national news will be downplayed to fit local stories into the front section, the publisher said in a memo today. Seventy newsroom...

Family Buying Cubs for $900M
 Family Buying Cubs for $900M 

Family Buying Cubs for $900M

(Newser) - It looks like the Cubs are returning to family ownership, the Chicago Tribune reports. The billionaire Ricketts family is the winning bidder to buy the baseball team from Sam Zell's Tribune Co. The $900 million deal isn't sealed yet—other baseball owners must approve, for one thing—but it's expected...

Auction for Cubs Nears End
 Auction for Cubs Nears End 

Auction for Cubs Nears End

But team a long way from sold

(Newser) - The bidding for the Cubs is nearly over. The Tribune Co. could select a winner from the three finalists within a week to 10 days, the Chicago Tribune reports, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the team is about to be sold. Tribune would still need to negotiate with the...

Tribune Bankrupt One Day, Engulfed by News the Next

Chicago institution breaks Blagojevich news, and is a player in corruption allegations

(Newser) - What a difference a day makes for the Chicago Tribune, which yesterday broke the story of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s arrest, and was itself an object of his alleged corrupting intentions—just a day after its parent company declared bankruptcy, the Wall Street Journal notes. “It’s pretty...

Tribune Company Files for Bankruptcy

Financing billions in debt becomes too onerous in down economy

(Newser) - The Tribune Company filed today for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, due to mounting debt and an inability to pay interest in the floundering economy, the Wall Street Journal reports. Tribune’s profits declined 83% in the third quarter, making it difficult to finance $12 billion in debt. The company has...

Tribune May File for Bankruptcy This Week

Saddled with debt, media company looks at Chapter 11

(Newser) - The Tribune Co. has hired a financial adviser to help it file for bankruptcy as early as this week, the Wall Street Journal reports. Facing $12 billion in debt and shrinking profits, the owner of the Chicago Cubs and several newspapers has also brought in legal counsel to guide it...

Cubs Brass Hope to Sell By February

(Newser) - Chicago Cubs brass expects the team to be sold by spring training, the Tribune reports. The chairman of the team, which is in the midst of a century-long title drought, says it is reviewing bids and could have a deal in place by February. Crane Kenney also shot down rumors...

Zell 'Clueless' About Journalism and Democracy
Zell 'Clueless' About Journalism and Democracy
OPINION

Zell 'Clueless' About Journalism and Democracy

What he's done to, and says about, Tribune Co. shows fundamental misunderstanding

(Newser) - Sam Zell may or may not turn the Tribune Company around, but his ownership has crippled “real newsgathering,” Peter Osnos writes in the Daily Beast. “If Tribune goes down, he will still be very rich,” Osnos continues, “but he will have presided over the evisceration...

LA Times Staffers Sue Zell for Trashing Tribune

Boss not shooting straight: lawsuit

(Newser) - A group of current and former Los Angeles Times journalists is suing the Tribune Company for recklessly mismanaging the chain of newspapers, the Wall Street Journal reports. The suit claims billionaire boss Sam Zell has trashed the company in a hunt for quick profits, destroying the value of their pension...

LA Times Insider Launches Anti-Zell Blog

Anonymous journo bashes paper's owner as heads keep rolling

(Newser) - Heads continue to roll at the Tribune Company, but one staffer is aiming to prove the pen is mightier than Sam Zell's ax, reports the New York Times, with new blog TellZell.com. The site is airing the gripes of Tribune's disgruntled journalists, and is finding plenty of fodder—from...

LA Times Publisher Exits
 LA Times Publisher Exits 

LA Times Publisher Exits

Tribune Co. loses another top-level staffer as it prepares for big job cuts

(Newser) - A bad day for the Tribune Company got even worse yesterday with the resignation of Los Angeles Times publisher David Hiller, Reuters reports. Hiller is leaving after less than 2 years with the paper as Tribune owner Sam Zell prepares to cut jobs again and reduce pages at his papers....

Chicago Tribune Editor Resigns Amid Cutbacks

Ann Marie Lipinski ends 7-year run in job 'not the fit it once was'

(Newser) - Chicago Tribune editor Ann Marie Lipinski handed in her resignation today after 7 years in the top post at the Tribune Company's flagship paper. Lipinski's departure comes a week after the 161-year-old newspaper told its staff it would eliminate about 80 newsroom jobs amid a broad effort to cut costs...

For Sale: Chicago Landmark
 For Sale: Chicago Landmark 

For Sale: Chicago Landmark

Tribune Tower may hit market as Zell looks to pay down debt on giant media company

(Newser) - Saddled by debt from his acquisition of the Tribune Company media empire, billionaire Sam Zell may sell off the iconic Chicago headquarters of the Tribune newspaper, he said yesterday. The 83-year-old Tribune Tower could fetch $250 million, analysts told the Sun-Times, with Zell likely needing to assure a new owner...

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