Mark Walter, Owner Of Dodgers, Possibly Interested In Buying LA Times, Chicago Tribune

Mark Walter, the controlling owner of the Dodgers, said he is interested in possibly buying the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune.

"The Los Angeles Times says something," Walter said to the Los Angeles Times Friday. "It means something. It's a brand. I think people have undervalued that. If the price were right, I would buy it."

Walter is the chief executive of Guggenheim Partners, a Chicago-based financial services firm that, in recent years, acquired Dick Clark Productions, The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard and Adweek.

Walter said that he did not think the Times would be a bad investment and said, if he owned it, he would not give Dodgers coverage special treatment. "I can't tell you what to write," he said to the Times. He did not give any other details about his interest or plans.

Both the Times and the Tribune are owned by Tribune Co., which also owns the Baltimore Sun, Orlando Sentinel and South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

Koch Industries, who had expressed interest in buying the Tribune Co., has dropped its efforts to buy the company, a spokeswoman said last week. Other possible buyers include LA businessman and philanthropist Eli Broad; owner of the Orange County Register and Long Beach Register, Aaron Kushner; and media magnate and founder of News Corp, Rupert Murdoch.