The newspaper business is in a rough way. When Sam Zell bought the Tribune Company and took it private many were scratching their heads. But Zell is also a businessman who has cut his teeth in the ruthless world of commercial real estate.
A few months after the takeover we are starting to see some of Zell’s plan. Through cutbacks in staffing at the papers he is getting a grip on the expense of providing the content. And through his expertise in managing commercial real estate, Zell is starting to unlock some of the value tucked away in the real estate of these newspapers.
Tribune could fetch hundreds of millions of dollars from a sale of the buildings that house the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times newsrooms. But a more likely outcome are moves that would allow Tribune to wring revenue out of the properties without selling them. Tribune said it wants to maintain a stake in the buildings and be able to occupy them for at least five years.
To generate cash short of outright sales, real-estate experts said, Tribune could move staffers to less-expensive locations and find tenants for the resulting free space. Or the company could reap a windfall by selling the buildings and then leasing office space from the new owners. via WSJ.com
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Check out this commentary about selling your house in this horrible market. It's written by Janet Siderman, who's a pretty big money Malibu realtor.
http://www.greenfaucet.com/real-estate/tips-for-s…
Main points: first impressions are huge, market history doesn’t matter anymore, and it’s a buyers market.
I feel sorry for anyone selling right now.