Three billionaires hoping to buy the Los Angeles Times expressed their interest in separate letters this month to the paper's owner, Tribune Co. But each was told The Times was not for sale — at least for now, according to several people who have seen the letters.
Since a schism in June on the Tribune board put the company's future into question, reports have circulated that philanthropist Eli Broad, music and movie mogul David Geffen and former supermarket magnate Ron Burkle would like to buy the newspaper.
A purchase by any of the three Los Angeles billionaires would put the newspaper under local ownership for the first time since 2000, when the Chandler family agreed to sell the paper's then-owner, Times Mirror Co., to Chicago-based Tribune. Relations between the newsroom in Los Angeles and the corporate office have grown increasingly strained since then, especially as Tribune has squeezed the budget and cut staff in response to declining revenue.
Tribune's directors considered the three letters at a July 19 board meeting. Tribune Chairman and Chief Executive Dennis J. FitzSimons has since replied in writing to each of the prospective suitors, informing them that the board "unanimously asked me to advise you that at this time we are not prepared to discuss the possible transaction described in your letter," according to someone who saw the correspondence.
Geffen, 63, made a fortune buying and selling record companies in the 1970s and 1980s before launching DreamWorks in 1994 with Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg. Geffen, worth $4.4 billion, according to Forbes magazine, has told people that he envisions The Times as a national newspaper.
Broad, whose real estate and insurance fortune Forbes has put at $5.9 billion, has said he would like to use his Broad Foundation to buy The Times in combination with other local institutions. He was mentioned as a likely buyer of the Los Angeles Dodgers when News Corp. put the team on the market several years ago, but the team went to Frank McCourt of Boston.
Burkle, 53, who has discussed teaming up with Broad in a purchase of The Times, made an unsuccessful bid for 12 Knight Ridder Corp. newspapers when that company was broken up this year. He said last month that "the chance for the L.A. Times to be locally owned again is an opportunity not to be missed."
Burkle multiplied his fortune by buying, merging and selling supermarket chains including Ralphs Grocery Co. and Food4Less. Forbes has estimated his wealth at $2.3 billion.
Click on the headline above to read the article by L.A. Times staffers Thomas S. Mulligan and James Rainey
Monday, July 31, 2006
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