Sam Zell has reason to smile today, and smiling he is.

After overcoming one obstacle after another for months, the billionaire investor is now officially the owner of the Tribune Co. Zell closed the complex $8.2 billion deal to take the company private today and named himself chief executive officer.

And he's wasted no time in his first few hours on the job. Zell appointed Randy Michaels as executive vice president in charge of interactive and broadcasting, and Gerald Spector as executive vice president and chief administrative officer. He also added five new directors to Tribune's board.

Having already read the writing on the wall, Tribune chief executive Dennis FitzSimons announced his resignation yesterday.

Zell, who has no previous experience running a media company, now controls 23 television stations and nine newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune. He made it abundantly clear that the company, which has struggled in the wake of a deteriorating print-advertising market, will undergo many more changes ahead.

"Up until now, [Tribune] has been run as if it was one media company," Zell said at a press conference, according to a report in the Tribune. "I don't believe that that's the optimum structure.... I believe in delegating authority and holding people responsible."

He said he plans to hold the head of each business unit more accountable for its operations. He added that he sees opportunities to generate new revenue streams, such as creating more targeted publications like the successful RedEye, and taking better advantage of online opportunities, according to the Tribune.

"As I've said over and over again, there are something like 60 entities in the Tribune Co. and I view it as 60 ways to get lucky," Zell said.

Of course, among his first priorities will be finding ways for the company to lighten its debt load, which is an estimated $10 billion thanks to the complex structure of this privatization. The four banks backing the deal, which are themselves struggling in this credit market, continued to haggle up until yesterday morning, according to the Wall Street Journal.