CHICAGO (WBBM/AP) - If all goes according to plan, multi-billionaire real estate investor Sam Zell will take over the Tribune Company by year’s end.
Zell says the only thing he knows he wants for sure, now that he's taking control is a place to park his motorcycle in Tribune Tower.
And he jokes in a front page interview that the late Colonel McCormick's office might be a good spot for it.
Zell landing media conglomerate Tribune Co. on Monday after a down-to-the-wire bidding war.
Tribune Co. owns the Chicago Tribune newspaper, among others, TV stations that include WGN-TV Ch. 9 and the Chicago Cubs baseball team.
Zell met with business reporters at the Tribune Company's Chicago headquarters yesterday.
During that session, Zell said he's buying the company as a long-term investment. He says he's an avid reader of newspapers and thinks they have a profitable future in the age of the Internet.
Zell reiterated his intention to steer clear of Tribune Co.'s editorial policies but also told the Chicago Tribune, ``My influence will be felt.'' He declined to outline the specific strategies he plans to pursue.
``I really believe you can be relevant and editorially spectacular. And I think you can be irrelevant and editorially spectacular,'' Zell told the newspaper. ``The name of the game is to be the former and not the latter.''
Meanwhile, the rival Sun-Time unveils a new, bold look today. The new layout includes more color and graphics and looks somewhat like the Tribune's Red Eye which is geared toward younger readers.
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