Samuel Zell, Tribune CEO

Sam Zell comes off a little touched in the head, sure. The 66-year-old new Tribune CEO has a short fuse and a fast mouth, both of which landed him in hot water this week with close observers of his first steps at the helm of the sprawling media company. Did Zell declare it "un-American not to like pussy" while defending his plan to allow strip club ads back in the LATimes? Entirely possible! But so what?

The arrival of an unrepentantly blunt owner has always caused mass garment-rending in newsrooms. When owner Mike Lacey introduced himself to Village Voice staffers, he told them to get ready to say goodbye to their friends. It didn't help that he reportedly did it with his cowboy boots propped up in their faces. People still talk about the time Lacey walked into the L.A. Reader and called everybody in the place a cocksucker. Philadelphia Inquirer publisher Brian Tierney's tirades at reporters are legendary, and media magnate Si Newhouse was no boy scout.

We're quite sure there are mild-mannered cuddly billionaires, but we haven't met them yet. Resurrecting a sprawling corporation stuck in a flawed and flagging industry involves unpopular decisions and requires some serious chutzpah. Tribune's probably too far gone to be righted no matter how much Sam Zell swears at it, but it's hard not to get a kick out of watching the little guy give it his boorish best. Besides, who hasn't wanted to call a media exec an overpaid motherfucker?

4:56 PM on Fri Feb 8 2008
By Maggie
1,812 views
12 comments

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IndianSlipper at 05:01 PM on 02/08/08
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As American as Baseball, Chevrolet, and Muff Pie! Yes!
naboo at 05:01 PM on 02/08/08
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"It's un-American not to like pussy" should be back cover copy for that LOLcats book.
lawyergay at 05:07 PM on 02/08/08
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Is this why you took the "Dirty Sam Zell Dirtier in LA" post down from earlier? Does anyone think this guy is really interested in running a paper? This purchase was about the tax-free cash he could wring out of the employee stock ownership plan. Deals done this way more than pay for themselves. Just read Louis Uchitelle's piece in the NYT.
IndianSlipper at 05:13 PM on 02/08/08
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@lawyergay: You seem really bent about the ESOP thing. Why? I actually did pretty well when I was a minion for an ESOP and we got bought out. True, the people at the top made shitloads, but they always do no matter what.
Chaim Gnadelstein at 05:16 PM on 02/08/08
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I think the inclusion of the bottom half of that picture would reveal that he is, in fact, wiping his ass. Possibly while dictating an e-mail, in an open bathroom, to an attractive female assistant.
lawyergay at 05:27 PM on 02/08/08
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@IndianSlipper: The ESOP only works if the stock goes up. The ESOP at United Airlines turned out to be utterly worthless. I guess I'm bent about it because I feel like these billionaire types cause a lot of damage and one of the reasons they get away with it is because people don't really understand what's going on. I would hate to see this rapacious, and now supposedly lovable and iconoclastic, billionaire ruin this newspaper and bust the retirements of all his employees just so he could save a few million in taxes. One of the reasons he did this deal is because he needed a place to park the billions he made on the sale of his real estate investment trust last year.
IndianSlipper at 05:36 PM on 02/08/08
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@lawyergay: You are a smarter person than I, I didn't know all that (except UA). We were a private company, spun off by a pubco into an ESOP, and we ran it much better that they would have for a few years so they had to buy us back. I immediately cashed out (HUGE mistake). Praxair if you care to know the pubco.
NightElfMohawk at 08:05 PM on 02/08/08
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That man is going to destroy completely everything I love about the Cubs and Wrigley Field. And WGN. Bastitch...
belltolls at 10:19 PM on 02/08/08
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@NightElfMohawk: Somebody as batshit as Zell will likely bring Harry back from the dead and that would be a good thing.
Greasy Thumb Guzik at 01:33 AM on 02/09/08
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@NightElfMohawk:
What on Earth can you love about WGN?
surfbeavernsb at 09:43 AM on 02/09/08
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Dear Staff,

Shit, piss, cock, cunt, motherfucker, cocksucker, and tits.

Sincerely,

George Carlin, oops I mean Sam Zell.
NorthCoast at 03:17 PM on 02/10/08
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Must be nice to be a multi-billionaire so you can swear like a drunken sailor to your employees and use crass words like "pussy" with no repercussions.

Wonder what would happen if an offended employee went to the head of HR with a formal complaint against Zell.