Cubs agree to sell franchise to Ricketts Completion of deal, which includes 95 percent stake, pending A two-year quest to sell the Cubs ended on Friday, as the parent Tribune Co. signed a definitive agreement to sell 95 percent of the franchise to the Ricketts family for $845 million. Tom and Joe Ricketts will have management control of the joint venture as its 95 percent owner. Tribune Co. -- which owns the club, Wrigley Field and approximately a 25 percent interest in Comcast SportsNet -- will retain a five percent ownership interest. "Our family is thrilled to have reached an agreement to acquire a controlling interest in the Chicago Cubs, one of the most storied franchises in sports," said Joe Ricketts, the founder of TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. "The Cubs have the greatest fans in the world, and we count our family among them. We look forward to closing the transaction so that we can begin leading the Cubs to a World Series title." "The Cubs are encouraged that the Tribune and the Ricketts family have reached agreement on the transaction and see this as a very positive step toward the ownership transition," Cubs chairman Crane Kenney said. The Ricketts family has been given the nod over Marc Utay, a managing partner with New York-based private equity firm Clarion Capital Partners LLC. Tom Ricketts is chief executive of Chicago investment bank Incapital LLC and the son of Joe Ricketts. "We are pleased at the progress made on the sale of the Cubs and look forward to working with the Tribune Co. and the Ricketts family to complete the transaction as smoothly as possible," Bob DuPuy, Major League Baseball's president and chief operating officer, said Friday in a response to an e-mail query. Ricketts won the initial bidding process and opened an exclusive negotiating period in January but did not close the deal before that period ended. Thus, Tribune reopened secondary negotiations with Utay and his investor/partner, Leo Hindery, the former president and chief executive of the YES Network who now runs InterMedia Partners, a media investment firm. 後面的熊熊故事就不贴了.... --

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