Billionaire investor Sam Zell Says Commercial Values Down 30%; Tribune Was a ‘Mistake’

[marmar]

Zell Says Commercial Values Down 30%; Tribune Was a ‘Mistake’
By Greg Miles and Hui-yong Yu


April 15 (Bloomberg) -- Billionaire investor Sam Zell said commercial real estate values are down about 30 percent and that his purchase of Tribune Co. was a mistake.

“You’re going to see a lot of change of ownership in commercial real estate” as a result of the once optimistic forecasts, Zell said in a Bloomberg Television interview today.

Zell said he was “more than willing” to admit he made a mistake in buying Tribune, owner of the Chicago Tribune newspaper. The company’s bankruptcy filing helped stop the “bleeding,” he said.

Zell, 67, exited the U.S. office market at the peak in February 2007 by selling Equity Office Properties Trust to Blackstone Group LP for $39 billion including debt in the biggest leveraged buyout at the time. The sale earned Zell about $900 million. In December 2007, Zell and investors took private Tribune in a deal that gave the company $13 billion in debt.

The Blackstone transaction capped a tumultuous period for Zell after his 2001 purchase of Spieker Properties, then the biggest commercial landlord on the U.S. West Coast. He paid $7.2 billion just as California’s technology boom fizzled and cut Silicon Valley rents, causing Equity Office shares to lag behind other real estate investment trusts for the next four years. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=anLUi0arJlTs&refer=home

[SoCalDem]

1. Boo Hoo Hoo.. sometimes Boardwalk & Park Place

end up being losers & the one with Mediterranean & Baltic win:)

Of course he did manage one thing with the "merger"..consolidate & kill both ..he'll be fine, even with the loss, but the people who work(ed) for the papers...not so much:(

[Captain Hilts]

2. Great analogy.

My relative, Sir Thomas, knows EVERYTHING

He knows the R's are trying to disgrace tea drinking...

[elleng]

3. Took him a while!

WE knew it was a mistake from the BEGINNING!

[hadrons]

4. Lost billions and yet I bet he still supports the policies that led to it

[Odin2005]

5. This is the "Talent" that they say will leave if they don't get their bonuses?

[madrchsod]

6. i wonder why bloomberg did`t mention these problems sam is facing

http://www.planadviser.com/compliance/article.php/4094

http://www.rbr.com/media-news/13968.html