Might as Zell?

UPDATE: The deal went down this morning according to the Tribune. It's liberation day. The LA Times reports:

Billionaire real estate mogul Sam Zell has reached an agreement to buy Tribune Co. in a two-stage deal valued at $8.2 billion, or $34 a share, the company said this morning.

The Tribune Company auction has been all show -- nice bids but no bite -- kind of like those "30 percent chance of rain" days when there's nary a cloud.

BUT as Kevin Roderick points out at LAObserved, it may be all things go by dawn Pacific. Sam Zell -- Chicago real estate mogul and the 158th most money-having American according to Forbes -- matched Broad & Burkle's $34/share bid for the Trib late Sunday and, as Tribune reporters Michael Oneal and David Greising objectively?? remarked, "the Tribune's board seemed to be leaning his way."

TRB closed at $32.11 on Friday. $34 is equal to the stock's 52-week high, set last September.

The reporting duo added that while the situation remains "fluid... Tribune directors were hoping to finalize a pact before markets open Monday morning."

The Tribune Web site has some cheesy video on the company's history and a profile of Zell, but no mention of the 99-year championship drought for the Cubs (OK, so TribCo's only been responsible for Cubbie letdowns since 1981).

Sam Zell is a wise man. He seems to be aware of the potential of the Internet to bolster the value of news media in the long run. And, his nickname is "Grave Dancer." That said, Thomas Mulligan exposes Zell's dark side in today's LA Times.

We don't really care who buys out TribCo, we just want our paper back. In spite of TribCo's attempts to break down the culture of the LA Times since snapping it up from Times-Mirror in 2000 (some might say it's been trouble since Otis Chandler left in 1980), somehow, the Times remains one of the three relevant rags left in the country.

May it land in private hands once again.

photo of Tribune Tower reflection in a puddle between storms by Patrick via flickr.