If Mort Zuckerman Buys the G.M. Building, Can He Still Afford Newsday?

The ever-reliable Peter Slatin is reporting today that Mort Zuckerman is the "last man standing" in the push to buy the G.M. Building on Fifth Avenue. The potential sale price? $2.9 billion.

Would a building buy so big—the biggest in U.S. history—spread him too thin financially to seriously contend to buy Newsday? Forget the economy and the strains in getting any sort of lending these days. Mr. Zuckerman is also in the process of financing two Eighth Avenue skyscrapers, which isn't coming cheap (and then there are those buyouts happening at the Daily News).

And when it's Newsday there's lots of news everyday! Another developer, New York Observer publisher Jared Kushner, is reportedly in the mix to buy Newsday, though a source told The Wall Street Journal his interest is preliminary.

And guess what? Mr. Kushner holds the current record for biggest building buy in U.S. history for his purchase of 666 Fifth Avenue.