MSU's College of Business is named after him.
And with his latest bid, he could own the Chicago Cubs baseball team, among dozens of television stations and newspapers nationwide.
MSU alumnus Eli Broad and supermarket billionaire Ron Burkle teamed up and submitted a bid for Tribune Co., according to The Associated Press.
Tribune's holdings include 11 daily newspapers, 25 TV stations, the Chicago Cubs and Internet ventures, as well as sizable stakes in the Food Network and the online classified advertising venture CareerBuilder.
Details of the offer by the companies controlled by the two businessmen were not disclosed.
A person familiar with the offer who was not authorized to publicly discuss it confirmed Wednesday the bid had been submitted.
Broad, who graduated with an accounting degree in 1954 and has donated millions of dollars to the university, had the MSU College of Business and the Graduate School of Management renamed in his honor in 1991, which was named after he pledged to donate $20 million to the school, said Kathy Walsh, director of Marketing and Communications for the school.
"Every year, he gives $250,000 to the full-time MBA program," Walsh said.
"He has also given money to other places on campus, including the College of Education."
Brenda Wilson-Hale, director of development for the business college, said his yearly donations support the full-time master of business administration program and the dean decides where the funding goes.
"(Broad) is a very generous donor and has served his alma mater well," Hale said.
"We are very grateful for his support."
On behalf of The Broad Foundations, Broad made a $6 million pledge to the College of Education to fund a partnership between MSU and Detroit Public Schools in November 2003.
Tribune tried selling the company after being pressured by discontented shareholders and experiencing plunging circulation and a decrease in advertising revenue at its 11 newspapers.
When bids for the mammoth media company came in far lower than expected, Tribune told prospective bidders that individual pieces were available for sale.
Broad, Burkle and David Geffen were expected to submit bids for the Los Angeles Times. The joint bid for the entire company came as a surprise.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
