Bruce Rauner '78, private equity investor and chairman of GTCR Golder Rauner LLC., announced his interest in buying the Chicago Cubs baseball team to Crain's Chicago Business magazine on Nov. 17. Many of Chicago's top dealmakers are preparing buyout offers in anticipation that the team will become available due to the takeover or breakup of its owner, Tribune Co.
"I'm definitely intrigued with it, and I think there's a reasonably good chance that a transaction happens there in the not-too-distant future," Rauner told Crain's.
Other potential buyers include industrialist Thomas Begel and restauranteur William Marovitz, who have each said they could make bids that would top $500 million. The price tag on the Cubs is predicted to exceed $700 million. Rauner, who is from Chicago, is a member of the Class of 1978's giving committee and donated $5 million to fund part of the renovation of Webster Hall into the Rauner Special Collections Library.
Severina Ostrovsky '07 and Christina Luccio '07 were awarded the Dean of the College Service Award in recognition of their work on Peer Academic Link in a ceremony on Nov. 16. The PAL program is a central system, in the form of a website, that is designed to inform underclassmen about the different academic opportunities and advising resources on campus. The Dean of the College Service Award recognizes students for contributions that honor Dartmouth's Principle of Community.
Tuck School of Business professor Eric Johnson, who leads the Glassmeyer/McNamee Center for Digital Strategies at Tuck, revealed the center's selection for the Top Tech Toys for 2006 at a ceremony on Nov. 16. Johnson, who closely follows the toy industry, guides MBA students in their research for the Top Tech Toys list. The toy selections cover all ages, from infants to adults. Selection criteria was based on the use of technology to create play value, or the cost of the toy related to the fun had by playing with the it. Selections included Test Tube Aliens and Nintendo DS Lite.