When you’re rich, you can afford to be a man of mystery.

Chicago real estate mogul Sam Zell is putting that idea into practice with his deal to take newspaper publisher Tribune Co. private in an $8 billion-plus buyout.

His reticence at discussing Tribune’s future has led plenty of Tribune employees and journalists to wonder just what he wants with a company that could barely sell itself because of a lack of interest or high enough bids. Sure, he has said before that newspapers are not down for the count, and that there is a challenge in building up the business. He’s done it before in the real estate market, so maybe he knows something we don’t.

But he hasn’t exactly laid out a business case yet. Our reporter Ilaina Jonas noted his refusal to talk much about it when she spoke with him at a real estate conference on Wednesday. His response, in brief: “I’m not going to.”

Not yet, that is. Zell indicated that a more comprehensive response might be forthcoming, but not until the deal closes. That means Tribune employees could be sitting up nights for quite a while. The Federal Communications Commission must eye the deal, and that could run into trouble. Then there’s the possibility of a counter bid by two Los Angeles billionaires, the potential for shareholder or employee lawsuits and who knows what else.

Well — maybe Tribune will set a record as the slowest media property sale ever.