Here's your media quote of the day, via real estate billionaire and ex-Tribune Co. chief Sam Zell, courtesy of next month's issue of Forbes magazine (emphasis ours):
Things didn't work out quite so well with Zell's acquisition of Tribune Co. The media outfit is now mired in bankruptcy court and a slew of related lawsuits. Zell doesn't rue the economics of the Tribune deal. It's the unflattering glare of the spotlights that he regrets.
"The media loves nothing more than to cover the media," he says. "That's fine for the media … I just don't need to be the media's bitch anymore."
With a $4.4 billion fortune to fall back on, Zell is again focused on finding real estate bargains in places that others have overlooked.
Zell — who apparently writes lyrics for and produces an annual single about "his current worldview" that he sends to friends in a music box — is optimistic about his post-Tribune life, and refuses to call his tumultuous time at the top a "failure."
"A true entrepreneur doesn't have the word ‘failure' in his lexicon," Zell tells Forbes. "Maybe [a venture] doesn't work out. But no failures."
[Photo via Forbes]
