Tribune Picks Ricketts family to purchase Cubs

The Chicago Cubs are set to change hands, with the billionaire Ricketts family emerging as the favored bidder to buy the team from Tribune Co for a landmark price of $900 million. The family, which has Chicago connections but made its fortune building a discount stock brokerage in Omaha, confirmed Thursday night that it has been selected by Tribune Co. to begin exclusive negotiations to buy the team, Wrigley Field and a 25 percent stake in Comcast SportsNet, a regional cable network. Sources put the value of the bid at about $900 million. Tribune Co.'s selection of the Ricketts' bid culminates a nearly two-year auction process that was complicated by the global financial crisis and, more recently, the media company's bankruptcy filing. The family's pursuit of the Cubs was led by Tom Ricketts, 43, the second-oldest son of J. Joe Ricketts, who founded what became Internet trading powerhouse TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. Joe Ricketts has an estimated net worth of $1.2 billion, according to Forbes magazine.