Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: HOT) shares may be living up to their stock symbol after Sam Zell’s Equity Group Investments signed a confidentiality agreement with the hotel chain. Zell already owns approximately 8 percent of the firm, but the agreement could signal the famous investor’s appetite for boosting his stake in the firm. The move may also prove to be bullish for the hotel sector as any confidence in Starwood may also mean confidence in a larger recovery in the sector.

Sam Zell made his fortune in the real estate business by setting up Equity Group Investments, which spawned three public companies, including Equity Residential, the largest apartment owner in the United States, Equity Office Properties, the largest office owner in the country, and Manufactured Home Communities, a mobile home company. These were among the first public REITs and took advantage of shareholder money to buy up properties when debt wasn’t available due to terrible market conditions.

Sam Zell has lost at least a bit of his cache, however, with his acquisition of Tribune Company. The real estate billionaire’s entry into the media business turned out to be ill-timed with the news agency now suffering under $13 billion in debt that was used to take it private in 2007. Eventually, this led to the firm’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier last month – or late last year. However, these events do not mean that Sam Zell has lost any of his ability to predict the real estate market through his investments!

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