January 23, 2009
Well it looks like the Cubs have finally been sold - or at least the buyer chosen. Turns out it's the Ricketts family, who founded TD Ameritrade Holding Corp.. Tom Ricketts, the point man, grew up in Omaha listening to WGN, moved to Chicago and went to the games. He is a true Cubfan and lives in Wilmette. Good news. He knows Ronnie and he knows how much Wrigley means to him and all the rest of us Cubfans. I hope that means he won't rip it apart brick by brick.
After nearly two years of intrigue, the billionaire Ricketts family has emerged as the winning bidder to purchase the Chicago Cubs from Tribune Co. for about $900 million, sources close to the situation said this evening.
The family will now complete negotiations with Tribune Co.
The family edged out Chicago real-estate investor Hersch Klaff and New York private-equity investor Marc Utay, a Chicago native, for the chance to follow Tribune Co., the Chicago-based media conglomerate, as owners of the storied yet hard-luck franchise.Late today, the Ricketts family released the following statement:
The Tribune Company has informed us today that our family has been selected for exclusive negotiations to buy the Chicago Cubs. We would like to thank the Tribune Company for overseeing a fair and competitive process and we look forward to working with the Tribune and Major League Baseball to close the transaction promptly. We will have more to say publicly when this process is completed. If we succeed in buying the team, our work will just be beginning.
My family and I [Tom Ricketts] are Cubs fans. We share the goal of Cubs fans everywhere to win a World Series and build the consistent championship tradition that the fans deserve.
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