Sam Zell Plans to Keep the LA Times

Authored by Scott Goldberg on October 10, 2007 - 6:11am.

Sam Zell said he won't be Selling the LA Times

Naming some of Los Angeles’s most well known moguls, Sam Zell said yesterday that he has no plans to sell his trophy, the LA Times, which he acquired in the deal for The Tribune Company. "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," said Zell at a conference. He then added, “Now, if you have a price, we can talk."

Zell bought Tribune in April for $8.2 billion, which owns 11 daily newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune and LA Times, as well as 23 television stations and the Chicago Cubs, which he has said he would sell. Among the leading suitors for the Cubs is Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks and HDNet, and a regular DMW contributor. On the prospect of Cuban buying the Cubs, Zell said, "I'm the ultimate whore. The process is going forward, and I have no idea who is going to end up with the Cubs, but it ain't gonna be me."

With newspapers worldwide adopting a model of free access, it stands to reason that Zell would hold his ground with the Times. With content quantities only competitor newspapers can match, potential advertising windfalls could be significant.