“We have a situation today where effectively the content is being paid for by the newspapers and stolen by Google, etcetera. That can last for a short time, but it can’t last forever. I think Google and the boys understand that. We’re going to see new deals and new formulas in the media space that reflect the reality of cost benefit,” said Zell.

According to David Garrity, director of research at the investment bank Dinosaur Securities, Sam Zell might be getting ready to put up a fight against Google.

“Zell believes the newspaper industry has “lain down” in aggressively dealing with the growth of the Internet over the past decade,” wrote Garrity.

“With regard to search engines such as GOOG, Zell holds that profitability is in large part a function of misappropriating creative content.”

As Google’s YouTube currently faces a suit from Viacom, the search engine giant should be worried by the possibility of a nation-wide newspaper upheaval.

As reported by CNN’s Mediabiz: “if Zell actually decides to support Viacom and can rally the rest of the newspaper industry to rise up against Google, the folks in Mountain View might have a bigger problem on their hands than investors expect.”

Source: CNN Money Mediabiz