Sam Zell: Mogul, Oracle and Chachka Pusher?

We think we’d find this story cute and endearing if it wasn’t about someone who’s name will be on the LA Times’ tombstone.

Sharon Waxman shares that owner of the Tribune Company, Sam Zell‘s holiday traditions:

Waxword/TheWrap has learned that every New Year, Zell sends 675 custom-made bronze statues to his friends with his business predictions. In 2002 it was a naked man turning a wheel to the musical theme, “Get Over It.” In 2004 it was “This Land,” featuring the arm of the Statue of Liberty grasping her torch aloft. But on the eve of the millennium in 1999, it was a buck naked man standing on a stack of Wall Street Journals (photo, below), predicting a catastrophic collapse of overvalued assets under the title, “The Emperor Has No Clothes.” A switch at the back of the statue sets off Zell’s raspy whine:

Oh and he’s also the narrator of said statue. Whole story is here. Shudder.

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