Billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad and supermarket mogul Ron Burkle have teamed up to submit a surprise bid to buy out the company that owns the Los Angeles Times and KTLA Channel 5.

The powerful pair made an offer for the Tribune Co. of Chicago, which also owns the Chicago Tribune, the Baltimore Sun, the Hartford Courant, Newsday and the Chicago Cubs.

Details of the offer were not available, but both men have said in recent months that they would like to own the Times. The bid was reported Wednesday morning on the Times Web site. Broad and Burkle were not available for comment.

DreamWorks SKG partner David Geffen had also expressed and interest in purchasing the Times on his own, but he had not made a formal offer. All three have said in past months that under their leadership the paper would be willing to accept lower profits and maintain better press coverage.

The news comes just a day after Los Angeles Times editor Dean Baquet said he would resign Friday over proposed staff reductions that Tribune mandated. A month ago, Times publisher Jeffrey M. Johnson was fired by the Tribune Co. for defying staff cuts that the company wanted.