"If somebody calls me and says I want to be a partner, and the next day tries to stick a knife in my back, tell me again why I would want to do business with him?" so says Sam Zell, the Chicago billionaire who outbid Eli Broad for control over the LA Times.
Adding to the excitement was the struggle between the Left wing billionaires who were battling against each other to buy the Times. Billionaire David Geffen, whose favorite writer is Maureen Dowd, was bidding against billionaires Broad and supermarket king Ron Buckle. All are high profile donors to democrats and were key Clinton supporters.
Besides exposing the fact that the big money in California is generally left of center, it was fun to watch the mud wrestling between Zell and Broad. According to Zell, Broad approached him to buy in as a partner, but in less than 24 hours Broad tried to bid around Zell with his buddy Burkle. The strategy didn’t work. And Zell made it public.
We’re not sure of Zell’s politics, but he did mention that his favorite columnist is neo-com Charles Krauthammer. Certainly, a better perspective than the leftist Dowd.
April 6th, 2007 at 12:00 am
Oh well! Someone has to lose and Someone has to win.
If everyone would read how the financing was crafted: ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan)!
In this case the winners was not just Zell, but employees of Los Angeles Times as well.
If Zell’s favorite columnist is Charles Krauthammer, then that is fine with me.
It was good to know that Broad and Burkle was left in the dust.