N.Y. Daily News owner said to offer rival bid for Newsday

Zuckerman submits $580 mln Newsday bid: source

Fri Apr 25, 7:46 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Daily News owner Mortimer Zuckerman has submitted a $580 million bid for Tribune Co's Newsday daily newspaper on Long Island, New York, matching a bid by News Corp Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Murdoch's New York Post daily tabloid newspaper is the chief rival to Zuckerman's Daily News. Murdoch's bid would leave a small percentage of the paper in the hands of Tribune in order to defer the tax hit that Tribune would take if it sold the paper.

The source said Zuckerman's bid is similarly structured, but Zuckerman is betting that the deal would be more attractive to Tribune because it could get done more quickly without heavy U.S. regulatory scrutiny.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080425/media_nm/newsday_dc

This is getting interesting. I suspect Zuckerman's main reason for bidding is to keep Murdoch from getting it.