After months of negotiations that saw few bidders, the Chicago-based Tribune Co., owner of the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times, announced this morning its sale to billionare Sam Zell for $8.2 billion.

Zell outbid Los Angeles-based billionaires Eli Broad and Ron Burkle, upping his bid late last night.

The company also plans to sell the Chicago Cubs and its 25 percent interest in Comcast SportsNet Chicago after the conclusion of the 2007 baseball season.

mediabistro.com has learned that Nielsen Business Media president and CEO Robert Krakoff passed away last night at 71.

Krakoff took over the then-VNU CEO position last August when Mike Marchesano left his post to become to executive VP and “chief transformation officer.”

Details soon …

UPDATE VIA Hollywood Reporter: “Robert Krakoff, president and CEO of Nielsen Business Media, died unexpectedly Thursday night in his Boston apartment, according to Nielsen chairman and CEO David Calhoun. Among the magazines Krakoff oversaw were Editor & Publisher, Billboard, Hollywood Reporter, Adweek, Mediaweek, Brandweek and Photo District News.”

UPDATE VIA FOLIO:: Nielsen is expected to name COO Greg Farrar as interim CEO. Krakoff was in New York yesterday at the Neal Awards luncheon and “looked fit as ever.”

BACKGROUND:

Beleaguered fashion flacks are more on edge than usual this Oscar season, and it’s not just because of the usual last minute shenanigans that go on in the race to dress the short list of A-listers at Sunday’s event. The ubiquitous television spots — everything from what tooth whitening process the stars are using to be camera-ready at the Kodak Theatre to the tried and true “shopping for a dress” segment with a nominee — have been strangely absent from virtually all of the celebrity-focused news shows that have been breathlessly covering all things Oscar for years. The concurrent freak shows surrounding “Bald Britney” and Anna Nicole Smith‘s death and subsequent legal wrangling have commandeered virtually all the air time that would ordinarily be devoted to those puffy Oscar “style” pieces that fashionistas spend all year angling to get.

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The media’s excitement over the 79th Academy Awards is boiling over. Few media events — the Super Bowl and, to a lesser extent, presidential election — are covered with this much eager (overkill?) anticipation. Here’s a selected primer:

At least one Oscar winner isn’t worrying about what to wear on the red carpet on Sunday. Sherry Lansing, who’ll receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award on Sunday, says she thinks the emphasis on dressing to impress the scores of reporters or arm chair critics that consider the broadcast a three hour fashion show is ridiculous. “The pressure, the dresses — the meanness — so and so should have worn that, shouldn’t be wearing that. What are we talking about? When Cher would come with her typical Cher personality wearing her outfits I loved her for it,” says the former studio head turned philanthropist. “It just not authentic now.”

Lansing learned first hand just how out of control Oscar’s fashion derby has become when it was announced she’s be receiving her award. “One of the sad things is that the very first question so many people asked me was, ‘What are you going to wear? I’m a 62-year-old woman. What difference does it make what I wear? I ain’t going to look 22. Hopefully, I’ll dress appropriately — it will be fine for all of my 45 seconds.”

— Diane Clehane

Christmas only comes once a year, but luckily for Angelenos, the KCRW Pledge Drive comes twice. Really, does anything make you smile during your morning drive like the sound of longtime producer Matt Holzman giving away Macs and Hawaiian vacations to adoring and grateful Angels? But the curator of Matt’s Movies is not just generous, ladies. He’s sensitive, too. You have a heart made of a very special kind of stone if our favorite drive-time moment doesn’t reduce you to a puddle of tears.

We asked Holzman for the 10 top Web sites he visits daily. Here, for the second time this week, Matt gives us “The Business“:

KCRW
“KCRW Presents, music playlists and DJ picks make me seem a LOT hipper than I actually am.”

Je Suis Supercool
“My friend Alex’s blog is never relevant but always interesting and thoughtful. Thanks to her, I’m now a fan of ghost towns.”

Interactive Hank
“Photography is my interest but my friend Hank’s livelihood and obsession, and what is the web but a place for the obsessed? Plus, you can see what’s happening with his kid Jack. They have an awfully good time together.”

Time and Date
“YOU try arranging for a call with a reporter in Nairobi or London without a tool like this! Not only can you find out what time it is anywhere, but you can compare your time zone to their time zone to see where your working hours converge. God bless the web.”

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Sad news this morning out of DC. Art Buchwald, legendary humor columnist, died last night:

Art Buchwald, 81, the newspaper humor columnist for more than a half-century who found new comic material in the issues that come up at the end of life, died of kidney failure last night at his son’s home in Washington, his family announced today.

Gibson’s Malibu mugshot via the Smoking Gun

The Disney-owned network has dropped a planned Holocaust miniseries by Mel Gibson‘s production company in the wake of the actor’s alleged anti-Semetic remarks and drunk-driving arrest last week in Malibu.
ABC told the Wall Street Journal they were pulling the project because after two years in development they have yet to see a script. If that’s their story, they should stick with it.

ABC Pulls Plug On Gibson Project About Holocaust [WSJ]

Via TV Guide:

James Woods, star of the new CBS legal drama Shark, has had a stellar career in feature films. That’s why it seemed unusual for the Oscar-nominated actor, who has appeared in more than 120 movies, to make the move from big screen to small. Woods told the press Saturday that television is where the action’s at these days. “There’s not as much imagination in movies anymore,” says the actor. “They’re getting more and more corporate, but television is like a wild teenager.”

Perhaps he’s right.

Via FishbowlNY:

We hear one of the possible upcoming projects for Johnny Depp is the role of Attila Ambrus in an adaptation of Julian Rubinstein‘s Ballad of the Whiskey Robber.

Next Up For Johnny Depp: Whiskey Robber? [FishbowlNY]