MELVILLE, N.Y. — Tribune Co. chief Sam Zell acknowledged for the first time Thursday that there are potential buyers for Newsday and, unlike last year, he’s not rejecting them outright.
Potential suitors reportedly included News Corp. chief and New York Post owner Rupert Murdoch and New York Daily News owner Mort Zuckerman. Zell is reportedly structuring a noncash asset swap over Newsday that would save him up to hundreds of millions of dollars in capital-gains taxes.
Last year, when Zell was negotiating to buy the Tribune Co., he spoke about not selling off assets, but that was before worse-than-expected revenues set off concerns among media analysts that the company would not be able to pay down debt. Housing woes and the flight of advertisers to the Internet are projected to lead to double-digit declines in print advertising in the first quarter, Tribune officials said.
