The Sun’s parent company, Tribune Company, is expected by this weekend to accept billionaire real estate tycoon Sam Zell’s $8 billion offer to purchase all of its holdings, which include The Sun, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Food Network, the Chicago Cubs and the Web site CareerBuilder Inc.

Zell is offering $33 per share, 6.1 percent above the paper’s price of $31.04 on Wednesday. Representatives for The Sun were unavailable for comment.

“Shareholders have to be frustrated that this has gone on while the share price has declined,” said James Peters, an equity analyst at Standard & Poor’s, in a published report. “The price being discussed reflects the fact that the company is in a declining revenue environment.”

Tribune reported that its newspaper advertising fell 5.1 percent in February to $233 million, led by a 13 percent drop in classifieds.

Tribune has about $9 billion in total liabilities, including $4 billion in long-term debt, according to published reports.