Sam Zell, the Chicago real estate billionaire, has prevailed in his efforts to purchase the Los Angeles Times (by buying its parent, the Tribune Company). Local suitors were rebuffed, including David Geffen (who made a $2 billion all-cash offer for the Los Angeles Times alone) as well as Ron Burkle/Eli Broad, who allegedly put in a more lucrative offer than Zell for the entire company.
According to the New York Times, Zell did this with a mere $315 million personal investment. Zell is famous for buying distressed companies, and this is his first venture into newspaper ownership:
People close to the negotiations said that while Mr. Burkle and Mr. Broad had initially offered more money than Mr. Zell, company executives wanted the company to go to Mr. Zell...Perhaps more importantly, people close to the talks said, the board was disinclined to sell the company to anyone with ties to Los Angeles because of bad blood between Tribune and The Los Angeles Times.