Tribune Co. will probably accept real estate billionaire Sam Zell’s $8 billion takeover offer by the Tribune’s deadline of March 31, according to people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday.

Zell’s offer was competing with the company’s plan to reorganize, as well as less-attractive bids from the company’s largest shareholder, the Chandler family, and California billionaires Ron Burkle and Eli Broad.

Zell has publicly stated he does not plan to break up the company, which owns the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Cubs and other television and newspaper properties.

Zell, a Chicago native, has posed creating an employee stock ownership plan to help finance billions of dollars of debt for the acquisition while saving millions on taxes. Zell’s bid of $33 a share is nearly 7 percent above Monday’s close of $31.12.

Zell’s deal is also reported to appease the Chandler family, giving the Los Anegles-based family, which is the largest holder in Tribune stock, a tax break while taking the company private.

Shares in Tribune Co. were down 8 cents to $31.04 in afternoon trading Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange.