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.

The Ricketts family has agreed to buy the Chicago Cubs franchise for close to $900 million. The deal includes the baseball team, Wrigley Field, and a 25% stake in Chicago's regional sports network. The deal is expected to close within 60-90 days.

The Ricketts family fortune comes from its patriarch J. Joe Ricketts who founded TD Ameritrade (NASDAQ: AMTD), and is expected to be sufficient to remake the perennial also-rans into legitimate contenders.

While Sam Zell's sale of the team was made more urgent by the declining fortunes of Tribune and its huge debt load that led to bankruptcy, the Cubs don't appear to be selling at a firesale price. Back in April Forbes estimated the team's value at $642 million, including the stadium. But Forbes added that "The new man in charge at Tribune is Samuel Zell, who will likely sell the Cubs to reduce debt, for between $650 million and $1.3 billion, depending on whether or not 94-year-old Wrigley Field and Tribune's 25% stake in local sports cable channel Comcast SportsNet Chicago are included."

The offer was made more attractive by the fact that it was 50% cash, substantially more than other competing bids. With the debt markets the way they are right now, offers contingent on financing are not especially compelling.

The Cubs haven't won a World Series in 101 years, but they may have just taken a big step toward that goal.

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.

It definitely looks like M&A activity will decline in 2009. What's more, it appears that private financings and public offerings will continue to remain lackluster.

This is bad news for investment banks. However, some of these operators are finding ways to maneuver around by focusing on restructuring work.

Perhaps one of the biggest beneficiaries is Lazard Ltd (NYSE: LAZ).

In fact, this week the firm snagged Timothy R. Pohl, the co-head of restructuring practice at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

Pohl will certainly be busy as Lazard is currently working on the bankruptcies of Lehman Brothers and VeraSun.

This week, Lazard also got several new plumb assignments. The firm is advising Nortel Networks (NYSE: NT) on restructuring options, and other new clients include Tribune and even the United Auto Workers.

Of course, with the protracted credit crunch and the declining global economy, we'll likely see more leveraged companies hitting the wall, providing much more business for Lazard.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Streetsmart Guide to Short Selling: Techniques the Pros Use to Profit in Any Market. He is also the founder of BizEquity, a valuation website.

I guess I'm a bit old school, but I like the idea of walking to my mailbox to get my newspaper. I even like the feel of the ink that bleeds onto my fingers, but I recognize that I'm a bit unique.

Too unique, actually, and that is a problem for the newspaper business.

Yesterday, we learned that the old Tribune Company, privately owned by billionaire Sam Zell, is filing for protection under bankruptcy law. The company is drowning in a sea of debt and trying frantically to sell assets in order to raise cash.

It is obvious to management that subscriptions and advertising revenue will not be enough to pay off debt. The company will need to work with creditors on delaying principle and interest payments while it raises cash.

With the advent of the Internet and explosion of cable news networks, little old print media is going the way of the buggy whip.

Across the newspaper business, circulations have been falling for many moons and advertising dollars are taking their business elsewhere. Losses have been piling up, making it difficult to pay down debt used to consolidate the industry.

It's a complete mess.

Police today arrested Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his chief of staff on federal corruption charges that both touch the Tribune bankruptcy and the incoming administration of his fellow Illinois Democrat Barack Obama.

According to the Chicago Tribune, the governor and his Chief of Staff John Harris allegedly demanded the firing of Chicago Tribune editorial board members responsible for editorials critical of Blagojevich in exchange for state help with the sale of Wrigley Field, the Chicago Cubs baseball stadium owned by Tribune Co. That takes pettiness to a new level.

Finding a new owner for the ivy-covered baseball temple is in the best interest of all taxpayers. I can't understand why any political leader with an ounce of integrity would want to hinder the sale, even to the extraordinarily obnoxious Mark Cuban. Then I read a little further.

The Tribune reports Blagojevich and Harris have been accused in a "wide-ranging criminal conspiracy" to gain financial benefits for the governor, members of his family and his campaign fund in exchange for state appointments, state jobs and state contracts.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• According to people familiar with the situation, the Wall Street Journal reported that Yahoo! Inc (NASDAQ: YHOO) is again talking to Time Warner Inc (NYSE: TWX), this time about taking over AOL, with Time Warner taking a stake in the combined entity. News Corporation (NYSE: NWS) has its eye on any Yahoo moves. Meanwhile, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) is considering what its next move against Yahoo might be and is talking to News Corp.
• The Wall Street Journal also reported that, as part of the company's plan to cut costs, Tribune Co's Los Angeles Times newspaper may look to cut about 250 jobs, including about 17% of its news staff.
• The Financial Times reported that Chrysler, which has been searching for foreign partnerships, signed with China's Great Wall Motor a memorandum of understanding to explore long-term business ties in areas that include technology, distribution and components.

OTHER PAPERS:

• According to the Dallas News, AMR Corporation's (NYSE: AMR) American Airlines informed its flight attendants' union that is may lay off 900 flight attendants on August 31.

WEB SITES:

• Yonhap reported that LG Electronics will release "Dare," a new touch-screen mobile phone in the U.S. that will compete with Apple Inc's (NASDAQ: AAPL) latest iPhone models.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says massive debt at the newspapers means they no longer work as businesses.

Maybe newspapers don't work as businesses. The shocking 10% workforce reduction announced this week by McClatchy (Cramer's Take) (NYSE: MNI), formerly the best-run chain out there, is a reminder that all of these companies have borrowed too much money and don't generate the cash flow to make it work. McClatchy, with an 8% yield, is showing signs of collapsing under its own weight, something that has been exacerbated by Wall of Shame performer Gary Pruitt, a man who is still, amazingly, the CEO.

But all of this was totally predictable. I have never seen an industry attract so many buyers with so much debt and so little equity.

Take Tribune (Cramer's Take). Sam Zell's a smart guy. He let the newspaper employees do the heavy lifting when he bought the Tribune company. That was so smart. He will be out very little if the deal fails. The workers will be out their retirement money. That was a smart deal -- unless you work there -- but I have spoken against that deal so many times I am sick of talking about it.

McClatchy could have weathered this downturn, instead of -- it is a bit unthinkable, but I think it will happen -- defaulting on its debt, if it hadn't been determined to buy a bunch of properties for much more than they are worth. The New York Times (Cramer's Take) (NYSE: NYT) and Gannett (Cramer's Take) (NYSE: GCI) spent a lot of money, but they didn't have to buy back stock. Gannett's 6% yield isn't tempting in the least.

The special committee set up by Rupert Murdoch to ensure the editorial independence of the Wall Street Journal is about as useful as a referee at a professional wrestling bout. The sad thing is that News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) is paying members of this committee $100,000 a year to let Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch do whatever he wants to do anyway.

A case in point is the abrupt resignation of Managing Editor Marcus Brauchli. The lackeys -- oh, I mean the special committee set up following the Dow Jones acquisition -- felt compelled Monday to issue a press release to show publicly that they were on the case. At least, that's what it tried to do.

"Although our charter does not directly envision a process for dealing with a resignation, Committee members expressed the view that learning of the Brauchli matter after the fact failed to meet the letter and the spirit of the agreement," the committee said in a statement. The committee met with Brauchli alone and was told that "his action was not the result of any problem with editorial interference or attempts to impose an ideological viewpoint. He insisted that News Corp. has been `scrupulous' about the integrity of the paper."

Yeah, right.

Murdoch has meddled in his media properties for decades. No special committee is going to stop his lust for power. Anyone who expected otherwise is either naive or deluded. Murdoch will have no inhibitions of messing with Newsday if he succeeds in buying Newsday from Sam Zell's Tribune Co. because beggars can't be choosers.

To the surprise of no one, the newly private Tribune Co. is probably going to sell Newsday. The once-venerable New York paper, like all metro dailies, has fallen on hard times and Tribune's new CEO and owner Sam Zell has got a mountain of debt to pay down.

According to The Wall Street Journal . Long Island-based Cablevision Systems Corp. (NYSE: CVC) and New York's Daily News as potential buyers. Rupert Murdoch probably would love to buy Newsday and combine it with News Corp's (NYSE: NWS) New York Post, but I am not sure whether the antitrust regulators would allow it. He is trying to merge everything but the editorial staffs of the Post -- never a hugely profitable enterprise -- with Newsday to save money in a joint operating agreement, the Journal says.

After spending $5 billion for Dow Jones, Murdoch needs to pick all of the low-hanging fruit he can. I expect this deal to happen. Maybe it will lead to others for papers that buyers are eager to unload. Perhaps, Murdoch might buy other Tribune papers from Zell such as The Baltimore Sun or Los Angeles Times. As the Australian tycoon showed in chasing Dow Jones, influence matters as much to him as profits. Gaining more big papers furthers that goal at the expense of shareholders.

Several large publishers will set up a joint ad sales operation in the hopes of getting more revenue for their online businesses. According to The Wall Street Journal, "Gannett (NYSE: GCI)., Hearst Corp., the New York Times NYSE: NYT). and Tribune Co. are setting up the network as a stand-alone company called quadrantOne."

The new operation will have access to funding from the four companies and will cover 120 newspaper websites with a combined 50 million unique users. The new firm will not sell ads in the New York Times and USA Today which already have large online sales forces.

The venture will likely be a failure. By holding out the two most prized newspaper websites and selling smaller papers to advertisers the quadrantOne is likely to do no better than the unit Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO) has set-up to sell newspaper ads. While newspaper websites are attracting more readers as people moves away from print products, ad agencies can already buy inventory from these properties with ease.

The new company may offer "one stop shopping" for online newspaper ad inventory, but it is not inventory that advertisers really want.

Douglas A.. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Just for fun, the newspaper industry that is facing excruciating pressure as news seekers and advertisers flock to the internet, now has another negative catalyst to deal with. The housing slowdown and sharp drop in sales is causing a significant drop in newspaper advertising for real estate, a significant chunk of many small papers' overall revenue.

The Tribune Company saw a 40% year over year decline in its real estate ad sales for November. Gannett (NYSE: GCI) is also looking at a 27% drop.

This short-term revenue drop that's a result of macroeconomic factors could extend into the long-term. When the housing market does rebound, will people go back to newspapers? Or will have the internet continue to make inroads, hastening the decline of newspapers into oblivion.

As bleak as the outlook for the industry looks, several highly-respected investors have made large bets on it. Sam Zell recently acquired Tribune, and Warren Buffett has been a long-term investor in the sector.

For contrarian investors, the industry may be worth a look.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• The Wall Street Journal reported that in a list released last night by the FCC, Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG), Cablevision Systems Corporation (NYSE: CVC) and other "nontraditional" players are set to compete against more traditional wireless companies like Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) and MetroPCS Communications Inc (NYSE: PCS) in the federal government's spectrum auction next month.

OTHER PAPERS:

• Banks that include Merrill Lynch & Co Inc (NYSE: MER) and The Bear Stearns Companies Inc (NYSE: BSC) are reportedly in talks to help bail out struggling bond insurer ACA Capital Holdings, which lost $1B in the most recent quarter, according to two people briefed on the situation and reported by the New York Times; ACA Capital has guaranteed $26B in mortgage securities.
• Executives at Tribune Company (NYSE: TRB) were faced with last-minute questioning from bankers that were reluctant to fund the final portion of the $8.2B deal to take the company private, according to sources close to the company, the Chicago Tribune reported.

WEB SITES:

• Barron's Online's "Inside Scoop" reported that analysts are not convinced that the deal with Citadel is enough to save E*Trade Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: ETFC), as it does not eliminate E*Trade's $12.4B second-lien mortgage exposure, and the company could potentially face further customer attrition, which many think will continue to pressure the shares.

Tribune Co. (NYSE: TRB) shares are rising this morning as the U.S. Federal Communications Commission is expected to approve a measure that will ease restrictions on media ownership. The plan would lift a ban in the twenty largest American cities restricting media outlets from owning a newspaper, and a television or radio station in the same market.If you think that the company won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on TRB.

After hitting a one-year low of $22.78 in August, the stock has hit a new one-year high of $33.40 today. TRB opened this morning at $33.37. So far today the stock has hit a low of $33.09 and a high of $33.40. As of 11:05, TRB is trading at $33.28, up 99 cents (3.1%). The chart for TRB looks bullish and steady, while S&P gives the stock a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold rating.

For a bullish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a February bull-put credit spread below the $27.50 range. A bull-put credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of put options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn't do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we will make a 4.2% return in just 2 months as long as TRB is above $27.50 at February expiration. Tribune would have to fall by more than 17% before we would start to lose money.

TRB hasn't been below $27.50 since October and has shown support around $29.50 recently. This trade could be risky if the stock breaks its upward trend, but even if that happens, this position could be protected by support the stock has formed around $31 over the past week. Plus, TRB might find some support at its 200 day moving average, which is currently at $30 and rising.

Brent Archer is an options analyst and writer at Investors Observer. At publication time, Brent neither owns nor controls positions in TRB.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• The Wall Street Journal's "Deal Journal" reported that Sam Zell's planned buyout of Tribune Company (NYSE: TRB) is contingent on the receipt of a solvency opinion, and that this is the first time they have ever seen a deal dependant on this.
• The WSJ's "Heard on the Street" reported that Countrywide Financial Corporation (NYSE: CFC) may not be out of the woods yet. Despite executives promising a return to profitability, there is still a risk the company may eventually seek bankruptcy protection or "resort to huge sales" of new stock.
• U.S. private equity group JC Flowers "is understood" to have walked away from the auction for troubled bank Northern Rock, the Financial Times reported.
• Rupert Murdoch is shaking up the management of News Corp (NYSE: NWS.A), the Financial Times reported, giving his son, James Murdoch, control over the company's European and Asian operations, and appointing two trusted executives to lead Dow Jones & Company Inc (NYSE: DJ) and the Wall Street Journal.

WEB SITES:

• Barron's Online's "Weekly Trader" said AutoNation Inc (NYSE: AN) looks attractive now, despite hovering near a multi-year low. The company has also been on a slow but steady quest to diversify away from unpopular domestic brands by snapping up luxury and import dealerships.