R.I.P.: Sam Zell, Real Estate, Media Mogel

Real estate billionaire Sam Zell comments on his purchase of the Tribune Company during a 2007 news conference

Anybody who encountered Sam Zell — be they one of his executives, a rival in a business deal, a foundation chief or a journalist — knew where they stood with him.

Sam Zell, the raspy-voiced real estate billionaire who dabbled in media has died.   He was 81-years-old of age, according to The Chicago Sun-Times.

Zell had little patience for cockeyed ideas or sentimentality. He exulted in his reputation for using salty language even in politically correct times. It made him popular on the speaking circuit, where attendees eagerly listened for his business insights and for the entertainment he might provide.

With a career lasting more than 60 years, Zell amassed one of the leading fortunes in Chicago business circles. It was centered on real estate, but expanded into many other fields, including transportation, energy, manufacturing and radio stations.

(1942-2023)

He had a penchant for taking over companies that needed a turnaround, or “dancing on the skeletons of other people’s mistakes,” as he wrote in a 1970s article. It carried the title “The Grave Dancer,” and the nickname became his calling card. In 2017, Zell published a book that played on his nature, called “Am I Being Too Subtle?”

Forbes has estimated Zell’s fortune at $5.2 billion. He popularized the concept of real estate investment trusts, or REITs, which allow people to invest in broad property holdings via stock ownership. Among the companies he founded was Equity Residential, an owner of apartment buildings that Mr. Zell started while a student at the University of Michigan.

 Most of Mr. Zell’s deals were hits, but his reputation suffered after a high-profile failure — the same year as his Equity Office triumph. Mr. Zell struck a debt-fueled agreement to buy Tribune Co., then the owner of the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, other major papers and TV stations. He followed his playbook by cutting jobs and selling noncore assets, including the company’s Chicago Cubs

But he made the move as the Great Recession and changing technology chomped at revenue, and Tribune declared bankruptcy just a year later. Even as the sale closed, Mr. Zell called it “the deal from hell.” The company’s failure cost him $315 million, and the bankruptcy led to a restructuring that cost about 4,200 jobs.