Chicago real estate magnate Samuel Zell outbid a pair of other billionaires for control of Tribune Co. yesterday, a move that would put the storied media empire in private hands and install a powerful personality at the helm of the industry's third-largest newspaper chain.

Zell withstood an 11th-hour surge by Southern California businessmen Eli Broad and Ronald Burkle, winning a bidding war taken as an encouraging sign by some in the struggling newspaper industry.

Tribune's board accepted Zell's plan to buy out stockholders for $34 per share and institute an employee stock-ownership plan, a framework that has been tried elsewhere in the newspaper industry with mixed success, but not on this scale.

Zell, 65, is a colorful and sometimes quirky businessman who rides motorcycles and got his start in real estate as an apartment manager in college.

The deal's total value is about $13.2 billion — $8.2 billion to purchase outstanding shares of stock and about $5 billion in existing Tribune debt that Zell is assuming. Zell is putting up only $315 million of his own money to buy Tribune's 16 newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune; 26 radio and television stations; and other properties. He would also gain two seats on the Tribune board, including the chairmanship. Current Tribune management would be retained, the company said. The buyout is expected to be completed this year.

Zell will not buy Tribune's baseball club, the Chicago Cubs. In a separate announcement yesterday, Tribune said it is putting the Cubs up for sale to pay down corporate debt and expects to find a buyer by the end of the year.