Tribune Media Sells Last Stake In MLB Cubs

After nearly four decades of baseball ownership, Tribune Media is selling its remaining 5 percent stake in the Chicago Cubs to the team’s parent company.

According to The Chicago Tribune, terms of the completed sale were not disclosed.

The deal comes nearly 10 years after the Ricketts family paid $845 million to acquire a 95 percent stake and controlling interest in the team from Chicago-based Tribune Media, which owns WGN-Ch. 9, WGN-AM 720 and dozens of TV stations nationwide.

Tribune Media retained its minority stake in the Cubs through a complicated transaction structured as a leveraged partnership rather than an outright sale in a bid to avoid capital gains taxes.

Chicago Entertainment Ventures, the Cubs’ parent company, exercised the purchase right under an agreement with Tribune Media, according to a news release.

The deal ends the last vestige of Cubs ownership for Tribune Media, formerly known as Tribune Co. In 1981, Tribune Co. bought the Cubs from the Wrigley family, founders of the chewing gum company, for $21.1 million.

In 2009, Tribune Co., then in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, sold majority interest in the team to the Rickettses, cashing out of an asset that, despite years of on-field futility, was worth 40 times its initial investment.

Under the Ricketts family, the Cubs ended a centurylong championship drought, winning the World Series in 2016. The Cubs are now valued at $2.9 billion, according to Forbes, ranking third-highest among Major League Baseball teams.

Tribune Media spun off the Chicago Tribune and other major newspapers into Tribune Publishing in 2014, retaining broadcast, real estate and other assets, including the stake in the Cubs.

In December, Nexstar Media Group agreed to buy Tribune Media for about $4.1 billion, pending approval from shareholders and federal regulators.