Dean Baquet says he would bid for Tribune Co. if he were making Ron Burkle-sized billions.

“I would take on Tribune,” Baquet told a crowd of media bigwigs gathered to hear about the future of newspapers at a Manhattan breakfast event yesterday sponsored by the Newhouse School.

Baquet, who was ousted in November as top editor of Tribune’s Los Angeles Times for refusing to make a second round of newsroom staff cuts, added that he “can’t imagine there’s not a great future” for Tribune’s newspapers.

Tribune, which also publishes the Chicago Tribune and Long Island’s Newsday among other papers, put itself on the block last year amid pressure from a large investor unhappy with its sputtering stock price.