Sam Zell: Optimist

"I just don't need to be the media's bitch anymore."

Eric Millette photo

Undaunted by his Tribune debacle, Sam Zell is now cutting a bold path in emerging markets.
A Forbes.com piece profiles Zell and what's on his  mind this year?

He's not saying. But one of Zell's overriding themes each year is the importance of happiness, good health, prosperity and optimism. "Have you ever met an entrepreneur who wasn't an optimist?" he asks. "A true entrepreneur doesn't have the word ‘failure' in his lexicon. Maybe [a venture] doesn't work out. But no failures."

Zell, 69, has good reason to expect things to work out. He has made most of his fortune buying distressed real estate during America's darkest economic hours. He has also shown an uncanny knack for selling at the top, as he did in unloading Equity Office Properties onto Blackstone for $39 billion in 2007.

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."

Read more here.