* The long-standing animus between Tribune management and the Chandler family, the company's largest shareholders, should be regarded as old news. "Whatever occurred between the Chandlers and Tribune was unfortunate, because the company as a whole suffered as a result."
The family that controlled the former Times Mirror Co. will be bought out in the transaction.
He said he had never met any of the Chandlers but as a biking aficionado he had visited the Oxnard museum of motorcycle and vintage vehicles that belonged to the late Times Publisher Otis Chandler. "It was magnificent. What he had was gorgeous," Zell said.
One thing that set the Tribune deal apart from his others, Zell said, was the intense interest it had attracted. "I've never been involved in something that so many other people have an answer for," he said wryly.
But he maintained that a sell-off, unless the terms were extraordinary, was not part of his strategy, despite inquiries from prospective buyers of almost every Tribune paper.
"I've gotten letters from four groups in Baltimore, three in Hartford, four guys in Orlando. But we started with the idea and the focus that we would keep all these things together."
Reminded that Geffen, a Times suitor, is renowned for his tenacity, Zell said he also was not known for backing down easily.
When he meets Geffen for dinner, he said, "you should have confidence that I'm holding my own."
*
michael.hiltzik@latimes.com
