Zell: I'm Not Selling L.A. Times

AP:

Chicago real estate magnate and Tribune Co. owner Sam Zell said Tuesday he had no plans to sell the Los Angeles Times to any of the moguls who previously expressed an interest in buying the newspaper.

"I said it to Eli Broad. I said it to Ron Burkle. I said it to David Geffen, and I'm saying it to you," Zell said at a conference on corporate growth.

He then quipped: "Now, if you have a price, we can talk."

The remark brought laughter from the standing-room-only crowd at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

Zell, 65, led an $8.2 billion buyout of Tribune (Charts, Fortune 500) in April. The media company owns 11 daily newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times, 23 television stations and the Chicago Cubs baseball team.

Read the whole story: AP

Comments

[cardtosser]

I don't blame him. I used to sell the LA Times and it was a thankless job.

[rodeman]

Not selling........??

That's unfortunate because you've turned a pretty fair newspaper into a piece of shit..!

[cseper]

The media control is almost completed!

[barrycourage]

Control by whom? The public.

Apparently most of the media are owned by corporations that are publicly traded on the NYSE. If you have a 401k or an insurance policy or are enrolled in a pension plan you, in fact, own a piece of the media.

Publicly Traded:

ABC News"The Walt Disney Company
CBS News"Viacom
CNN"AOL Time Warner
NBC News"General Electric
Fox News"News Corporation (Murdoch is CEO)
MSNBC"General Electric & Vivendi SA (private)

The New York Times"The New York Times Company
The Washington Post"The Washington Post Company
USA Today"The Gannett Company
Wall Street Journal"News Corporation (Murdoch is CEO)
The New York Post"News Corporation (Murdoch is CEO)
Arizona Republic"The Gannett Company
Dallas Morning News"Belo Corporation
Newsday"The Tribune Company
The Boston Globe"The New York Times Company
Miami Herald"The McClatchy Company
Detroit Free Press"The Gannett Company

Newsweek"The Washington Post Company
TIME"AOL Time Warner

Privately Held:

Philadelphia Inquirer"Philadelphia Investors, LLC
Minneapolis Star Tribune"Avista Capital Partners
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution"Cox Enterprises
San Francisco Chronicle"Hearst Corporation
Houston Chronicle"Hearst Corporation
Los Angeles Times"Sam Zell
Chicago Tribune"Sam Zell
New York Daily News"Mortimer Zuckerman
The Star-Ledger"Advance Publications (Newhouse Family)

U.S. News & World Report"Mortimer Zuckerman

Not for Profit:

PBS"Corporation for Public Broadcasting
NPR"Corporation for Public Broadcasting
St. Petersburg Times"The Times Company--Poynter Institute

[MilwaukeeMike]

Do you think the public controls multinationals? Do you honestly think that a consolidated media in the hands of multinationals is a good thing? The fact that they're in your 401K has nothing to do with the quality of their reporting. Just because Dollar General is your 401K doesn't mean they sell quality goods. Sam Zell's media aquisitions are no longer controlled by the public. They are now privately held--purchased by debt. Do you think Murdoch's Newscorp is controlled by the public or Mr. Murdoch--who has the controlling interest? Did you notice that Zell's previous references on Wikipedia as a strong conservative and supporter of conservative causes have now been replaced with only his miniscule political contributions and the "balance" of having a liberal wife? Any references to the Blackstone Group and private equity interests have also been minimized or erased. The greatest lasting legacy of the last 7 years is that the media is consolidated, independent voices and opinions have been eliminated, and any sense of reality in reporting has been replaced with agendas and spin from the real beneficial owners.

[beachcruiser]

He'll sell it just as soon as he's finished gutting it entirely. Which should be any time now . . .

News on a shoestring!

Thanks for destroying a great newspaper.

[ornery]

You would perhaps prefer Roooophrut??

Is this the "hard Zell" or the "soft Zell"?

[MilwaukeeMike]

He won't sell it. It's too valuable of a tool to create news on the newswires. He doesn't have much in it anyway. The aquisition was primarilly financed by junk debt.