Cablevision submits $650 mln bid for Newsday: source

By Jui Chakravorty Das

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Cablevision Systems Corp (CVC.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) has made a $650 million bid for Tribune Co's Newsday newspaper, topping rival offers from media titans Rupert Murdoch and Mortimer Zuckerman, a source briefed on the matter said on Friday.

Murdoch's News Corp NWSA.N and Zuckerman's New York Daily News newspaper have made separate offers of $580 million for Newsday, sources have previously told Reuters.

News Corp plans to stick by its original bid, another source familiar with the talks said on Friday.

Long Island-based Cablevision, owned by the Dolan family, was considering a joint bid with Jared Kushner, owner of the New York Observer newspaper, but decided to go solo just a few days ago, the source said.

The Cablevision offer includes a joint venture that would allow Tribune to keep a small stake in Newsday to avoid capital gains taxes, the source said.

Cablevision and News Corp declined to comment on the matter. Tribune was not immediately reachable for comment.

Real estate tycoon Sam Zell took Tribune private last year in an $8.2 billion buyout that restructured the publisher as an employee-owned company, saddling it with more than $10 billion of debt.

Newsday is for sale at a time when newspapers are commanding low prices because of shrinking advertising sales and declining profits.