McCormick may have been a prominent Republican nut-job of his time, but he wouldn't have been a member of the current Republican party methinks. McCormick liked hemp too much.
Tribune Accepts Real Estate Magnate's Bid - New York Times
It also ends the financial stake in Tribune of two great American newspaper dynasties: the McCormicks, whose patriarch, Colonel Robert R. McCormick, founded Tribune in 1847; and the Chandlers, whose patriarch, General Harrison Gray Otis, founded Times Mirror in 1884 and who became the biggest shareholder in Tribune when Tribune bought Times Mirror in 2000. meander [sic]The long drawn-out auction, which seemed to meander as few credible bids emerged and the Tribune raised the idea of refinancing itself, suddenly accelerated over the weekend as the company pressed Mr. Zell to at least match the $34 a share offer from Mr. Broad and Mr. Burkle.
and why is the adjective associated with Mr. Zell always "flamboyant"?
Sam Zell, a flamboyant Chicago real estate tycoon who has never run a newspaper, has won the battle of the billionaires for the Tribune Company, meeting the company's demand for a higher bid to match one from Ronald W. Burkle and Eli Broad, a person close to the talks said today.
is this all the evidence available for Zell's alleged flamboyancy? He dresses casually? In this modern age, is that really a valid critique - he doesn't wear neckties? Bah.
Mr. Zell grew up in Chicago and has lived there most of his life. But his own style is anathema to any corporate culture. He makes a point of dressing casually, in contrast to his more conservatively dressed competitors, and he is fond of whimsical touches. Outside his office is a sculpture of a man tied up in red tape. In case anyone misses the point, a label reads: "bureaucrat." On the deck outside his office he keeps two live, large non-flying ducks.Each year he sends hundreds of friends and colleagues music boxes, with lyrics reflecting his latest insights about the real estate industry or the economy. He also owns some expensive contemporary art, including paintings by David Hockney and Frank Stella.
In 2004, The Chicago Tribune startled many people in the real estate industry by uncovering a 1976 criminal case in which Mr. Zell was charged with defrauding the Internal Revenue Service in a deal involving an apartment building in Reno, Nev. Charges against him were dropped after he agreed to testify against his brother-in-law, who went to prison.
In an interview in December 2004 with The New York Times, after The Tribune's revelations, Mr. Zell suggested that he did not have a high opinion of journalists.
"I started out as a kid thinking that reporters are out there to do good, to expose the world to the truth," he said in an interview in his office. "Over the years I've gotten a lot smarter. I've gotten a lot thicker skin."
Sam Zell has used less than 1% of his newly cashed-in wealth to fund a transaction which loads up two of America's leading and largest newspapers with enormous debt. After 5 years of cost cutting, there will be no room for dealing with the real issues of declining readership and advertisers. There will be no money for transitioning to new market requirements for news. Only more cost cutting, and soon enough a major decline in the value of both these companies. Sam Zell has just lead what is sure to be additional value destruction, not value creation. He hasn't used his money to build something new, but rather to insure the further demise of two aging institutions in need of rehabilitation. For more detail read www.ThePhoenixPrinciple.com