As a rabid sports fan and a financial blogger, I couldn't let this news slide untouched across my desk. It appears that the Chicago Cubs are about to be sold to the Ricketts family.

The Tribune Company has been trying to sell the Cubs for more than two years in order to reduce the company's debt, and the Ricketts family has stepped to the plate. Back in January the Ricketts family agreed to buy the team and other assets for $900 million, and the recent terms are reportedly very similar to that.

Continue reading Chicago Cubs nearing sale to the Ricketts family

Chicago Cubs nearing sale to the Ricketts family originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 07 Jul 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Not so fast Under Armour, you're being sued by the Chicago Cubs

Not so fast Under Armour, you're being sued by the Chicago Cubs originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 26 Jan 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Chicago Cubs find a buyer originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 23 Jan 2009 13:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is part of our feature on Money Losers of 2008. See all 20.

When Sam Zell acquired the Tribune Co. in April 2007 for $8.2 billion in cash, pundits speculated about whether the "grave dancer" who had made billions in distressed real estate had bitten off more than he could chew. The overwhelming evidence indicates that is exactly what happened.

Even by the very low standards of the newspaper industry, Tribune was a disaster. Many of its papers were big-city dailies that have been hit especially hard from the move by advertisers online. The Los Angles Times, the flagship paper of the old Times Mirror chain, experienced both the biggest declines in circulation and in newsroom employees, according to a New York Times report from October. During the third quarter, operating expenses in the publishing business rose 6% to $640 million while operating revenue plunged 13% to $654 million. It's no surprise that there have been boatloads of layoffs in the division.

The broadcasting business has also been hurt by soft advertising at the company's 23 television stations. Mark Cuban's efforts to buy the company's Chicago Cubs have reportedly been held up because the the loud-mouth billionaire's problems with the SEC. The fact that many businesses are finding it impossible to get a line of credit does not help either.

Continue reading Money losers of 2008: Sam Zell's year from hell

Money losers of 2008: Sam Zell's year from hell originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 26 Dec 2008 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Sam Zell is looking to unload the Chicago Cubs baseball franchise that came with his ill-timed $8.2 billion acquisition of Tribune Media Co., and the most aggressive suitor appears to be dot-com billionaire Mark Cuban. The New York Times reports that he offered $1.3 billion for the the team, Wrigley Field, and the team's stake in Comcast SportsNet Chicago.

But of course, Cuban, who has accumulated $1.7 million in fines during his tenure as owner of the Dallas Mavericks, is not without his critics, to say the least. He's too arrogant, too brash, and not gentlemanly enough, they say. He had trouble cracking into the old boy's network of the NBA, and Major League Baseball is said to be even more reluctant to change.

But if Cuban is the high bidder -- and the league will let him in -- it'll be a great day for the Cubs and for baseball. The team hasn't won a World Series since 1908 but, given Cuban's deep pockets and superhuman competitive drive, the Cubs would likely get the extra boost they need to finally win one. Plus, Cubs and Cuban have the same first three letters, so it's pretty much meant to be.

Baseball has dealt with a lot of scandal lately involving performance-enhancing drugs, and it's about time we added a passionate renegade to the current regime of old bureaucrats. And yes, I'm talking to you Ted Lerner.

Let Mark Cuban buy the Chicago Cubs! originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 03 Aug 2008 15:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Chicago Cubs auction starts today originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Tribune Company buyout finalized, no word on the Cubs

Tribune Company buyout finalized, no word on the Cubs originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 21 Dec 2007 10:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading A-Rod ditches Yankees' $252 million contract: Where to now?

A-Rod ditches Yankees' $252 million contract: Where to now? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 29 Oct 2007 18:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Most mergers are driven by the notion, sometimes wildly mistaken, that the combination will bring both a competitive advantage. Some pairs of companies, however, seem so intuitively right for one another, no bottom-line considerations should be allowed to interfere with their matrimony. Like a foul ball and a plate glass window, these two were meant for one another.

Continue reading Mergers I'd like to see -- Cubbies (TRB) and Emergency Med (EMS)

Mergers I'd like to see -- Cubbies (TRB) and Emergency Med (EMS) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 28 Oct 2007 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Tribune may sell Cubs, Wrigley Field separately

Tribune may sell Cubs, Wrigley Field separately originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 17 Sep 2007 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Two of the major newspaper companies reported second-quarter earnings today. The New York Times (NYSE: NYT) reported EPS of $0.34 from continuing operations compared with $037 in the second quarter last year, before items. Tribune Company (NYSE: TRB) reported EPS from continuing operations of $0.17 compared with $0.53 in the second quarter of 2006. Those earnings were brought down by about $0.30 in one-time charges related to job cuts and write-offs.

Tribune is expecting to be acquired by mogul Sam Zell through a complex process where employees would own a large portion of the company but, according to the Associated Press, "Now the industry's accelerating decline has some Wall Street experts wondering whether the deal for the parent company of the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and Chicago Cubs could fall apart." Revenues decreased 7% in the quarter and while the company remains publicly confident in the deal's prospects, the stock will plunge if it doesn't go through.

Shares of the New York Times soared on the news of Rupert Murdoch's bid for Dow Jones (NYSE: DJ). It has since given up all those gains as investors realized that was a one-shot deal rather than a sign of some new paradigm where the newspaper industry is something other than a declining wreck.

Tribune's saving grace has been the fact that its non-newspaper properties are performing well, but the industry continues its free fall. Advertising revenues fell 5.7% at the New York Times.

The newspaper industry remains one of the ultimate contrarian bets and, if the industry does somehow stage a turnaround, believers will be richly-rewarded. But none of these stocks are for the faint of heart, and I'll be staying far away for now.

Newspapers earnings: How much worse will it get? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 25 Jul 2007 13:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Cubbies for sale

Cubbies for sale originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 26 Jun 2007 19:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Tribune Co. (NYSE: TRB) is close to accepting Sam Zell's $8 billion offer to take the company private, ending a soap opera that's gone on for too long.

The owner of the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune will probably reach an agreement with Zell by a self-imposed deadline of March 31, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News. Zell's offer values Chicago-based Tribune at $33 a share, a 6.8 percent premium over yesterday's close.

Zell plans to create an employee stock ownership plan to finance the debt needed for the acquisition, Bloomberg says, adding that billionaire plans to keep the company in tact.

Tribune should take Zell's money and run as fast as it can to the bank.

I've questioned before whether the grave dancer really understands what's he has gotten himself into. If Zell is a success, I will gladly admit that my skepticism is wrong. Still, I bet that this isn't the last private equity deal among newspaper publishers.

Gannett Co. (NYSE:GCI) and McClatchy Co. (NYSE:MNI) would seem like logical candidates to go private. Though like other publishers they are struggling, Wall Street has considered both companies to be well run. McClatchy's reputation, though, took a hit when it acquired Knight Ridder. Gannett has the advantage of owning both USA Today and strong local media franchises.

All newspaper publishers are better off out of the public markets.

Tribune close to accepting Zell's offer originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 27 Mar 2007 12:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

In late December, Avista Capital Partners agreed to pay $530 million for the Star Tribune, less than half of what McClatchy paid for it in 1998. The deal comes amid growing concerns about the future of newspapers, which are facing competition from the Internet. But in spite of the ugly long-term outlook for newspapers, they may make an interesting investment for now.

For starters, Avista is purchasing the newspaper for 6.5 times its cash flow. Newspapers don't have the large capital expenditure requirements that many more booming businesses do. The industry is in decline, but it's still making money. I'm reminded of a profound statistic that I first read about in Jeremy Siegel's book The Future for Investors: Since 1957, railroad stocks have outperformed airlines, trucking, and the S&P 500.

This is of course not attributable to dramatic growth in the railroad industry. Rather, most investors saw that the companies were in decline and the share prices were driven down, and then provided a good return. The moral of the story: valuation matters. Most stocks are a good deal at the right price.

Are newspapers the new railroads? There are numerous similarities. Railroads were replaced by airplanes and trucks, but the railroad stocks were the better investment. Newspapers are being replaced by the Internet, but that in no way means that Internet stocks are better buys. Here's a quick look at some of the bigger newspaper stocks:

• Gannett (NYSE:GCI): Owner of 91 daily newspapers, including USA Today. The also own around 1,000 non-daily publications. Trades at around 11 times cash flow.
• E.W. Scripps (NYSE:SSP): Owns some newspapers, but also television stations, including HGTV and the Food Network. Also owns Shopzilla.
• Tribune (NYSE:TRB): Trades at around 8 time cash flow. Owns 11 daily newspapers, the Chicago Cubs, television stations, and other media interests.
  
  

Are newspapers the new railroads? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 07 Jan 2007 12:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.