IT'S ZELL

SAM ZELL has been awarded the bid for the Tribune companies, a behemoth that includes the Chicago Cubs and the LA Times. So who he? He is a legend in business; everyone knows him and everyone I know respects him. He is not even remotely acquainted with failure; when failure knocks on his door his pit bulls wag their tails, they know dinner is served. He will change the culture at the Cubs and LA Times---unless he decides to dump the Los Angeles nightmare---and becomes one of the major voices in our culture overnight. He's actually a veteran--something new for the pacifist weenies at the LA Times and Chicago Trib types---but his resume (above link) would choke a dragon. He is a serious financial expert and has close ties with Wharton School of Business, Northwestern, Michigan and so on. It's how he handles his very public companies that will tell the tale because the Tribune is a vast empire. He has no record of ever losing money. BTW, you can put your money on the line: the Cubs will be in the World Series within two years. Zell is more valuable than two twenty game winning pitchers, a batting champ, and four 300 plus hitters. He will dominate the National League. First act: Carlos Zambrano will be signed. 100% sure. Whoopsie; 7:29AM PDT. Zell announced that the first thing he will do is sell the fucking Cubs. Probably the small stadium matches the fact that there are always suckers with money in Chicago willing to die for their failure prone team.

HOWEVER, the deal is complicated. Zell will be COB, not the owner. The deal is structured so that the employees will actually own the stock, for a while. Zell will then take 40% of the outstanding shares and take the company private. Taking public companies private is becoming the wave of the present as people find that a public company is paralyzed by stock holder suits over every pin prick, over regulation, and the difficulty of changing anything. Zell knows what he's doing but the LA Times employees are what is wrong with the LA Times (and Newsday). Times employees have become the UAW of the newspaper business, taking the company down and not giving a dam. Zell may dump the LA Times too.