Zell-led group wins auction for Tribune Co.

Real estate mogul Sam Zell won the battle of the billionaires Monday, landing media conglomerate Tribune Co. after a down-to-the-wire bidding war. Even with the buyout’s $8.2 billion price tag, the outlook for the nation’s second-largest newspaper publisher remained as uncertain as it did six months ago when it began a strategic review to boost a lagging stock price. A big chunk of new debt also will be required to pay the $34-a-share cash buyout. Zell is counting on repaying the debt largely through tax benefits from a new employee stock option plan that would supplement existing retirement accounts for the company’s 20,000 workers.

Credit card transaction processor First Data Corp. said Monday that it is being acquired by an affiliate of private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts &Co. for about $27 billion, which would be among the richest ever private takeover offers in the U.S. KKR has offered $34 a share for First Data, a premium of about 26 percent over First Data’s closing price on Friday.

Fred Meyer will open a new fuel station at its Evergreen Way store in Everett by the end of the year, according to the retailer. The company is working to secure permits for the station, said spokeswoman Melinda Merrill. The retailer already operates 15 fueling stations at other stores around Washington, including one in Marysville. Costco, Wal-Mart, Safeway and QFC grocery stores also sell gas in Snohomish County.

Oil prices rose slightly Monday, after reports of a U.S. citizen missing in Iran added to fears that the standoff between Iran and the West could escalate into a conflict that would disrupt crude supplies. However, they finished below $66 a barrel, slipping from earlier highs after Iran’s chief international negotiator called for an end to “the language of force” in the dispute over the 15 British sailors and marines captured in contested waters of the Persian Gulf, and said there was no need to put the crew – which has been held captive for 11 days – on trial.

The Treasury Department auctioned three-month bills at a discount rate of 4.91 percent, down from 4.925 percent last week. Six-month bills were auctioned at a discount rate of 4. 87 percent, down from 4.875 percent last week. The discount rates reflect that the bills sell for less than face value. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,875.89 while a six-month bill sold for $9,753.79. Separately, the Federal Reserve said Monday that the average yield for one-year Treasury bills, a popular index for making changes in adjustable rate mortgages, edged down to 4.9 percent last week from 4.93 percent the previous week.

From Herald staff reports and news services