Aug. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Tribune Co. shareholders approved an $8.2 billion buyout led by billionaire Sam Zell and must now wait to see whether his purchase of the second-largest U.S. newspaper publisher can be completed as planned.

``We're seeing structural change in the media industry and we need to be better able to deal with it to improve our performance,'' Chief Executive Officer Dennis FitzSimons said today at a shareholders' meeting at Tribune's headquarters in Chicago.

Zell's $34-a-share bid is 26 percent higher than Tribune's closing share price yesterday. Tribune anticipates the deal will close by year-end.

To contact the reporter on this story: Tim Mullaney in New York at tmullaney1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: August 21, 2007 10:48 EDT