Guess Who Wanted To Buy The Cubs?

Crains had some scoopage about the bidding process for Tribune Company. Check out the last few paragraphs:

Even while Tribune’s leaders said they favored a deal for the company as a whole, the special committee running the auction recommended looking at other options including selling television stations or the Los Angeles Times last fall, the filing says.

After the process was extended to late January, only three bids came in: one from the Chandlers, one paying a $27-a-share dividend, and one to buy the television business and the Chicago Cubs baseball team for $4.8 billion, the filing says.

The latter two proposals resemble bids reportedly submitted by Eli Broad and Ron Burkle, and for the TV business by the Carlyle Group.

The Carlyle Group is a major private equity firm with investors above and beyond "Who's Who." Louis Gerstner, ex of IBM, is its chairman. George H.W. Bush has history with the company, too.

I wonder what they would have done with the Cubs? It would have been fascinating.