California News:
Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong confirmed on Tuesday that he will be taking the 143-year-old newspaper public, with shares to be offered later following regulation approvals.
“We’re literally going to take LA Times public and allow it to be democratized and allow the public to have ownership of this paper,” said Soon-Shiong on the Daily Show on Monday. “In terms of the Times, there’s news reporting, and there’s editorial and voices, and I never discuss or present my stuff in the L.A. Times. I would go to the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal.”
While details were scant initially, Soon-Shiong greatly expanded on what will happen on Tuesday. According to him, the LA Times will be reformed into a new entity called the LA Times Network. In addition to the Times, it will also include the LA Times Studio, the LAT Next curated creator platform, Nant Games, and NantStudios Virtual Production. In addition, the LA Times Network will attempt to get Regulation A+ financing, a larger and more flexible form of financing than a traditional IPO with a $75 million cap on money raised.
Soon-Shiong compared it to a professional football team going public, going so far as to compare it to the Green Bay Packers ownership model. There, the shareholders directly own the company rather than a single individual or small group.
“My family bought the L.A. Times to ensure a voice for the community and now have a path to return it to the people,” added Soon-Shiong in a statement. “With this opportunity, readers, community members, everyone, will be the media: direct democracy in action. There’s been an erosion of faith in our institutions, and I look forward to sharing this journey with the public.
“By becoming a central pillar in a diversified, tech-enabled media network, we position ourselves to lead nationally while staying true to the values that made the Los Angeles Times iconic. Know this: my dedication to the Los Angeles Times is greater than ever. This step is not a departure from our mission.”
The announcement on Tuesday marks yet another big change for the paper in only the last few years. After buying the L.A. Times and a few other papers in 2018, Soon-Shiong soon moved the paper’s headquarters to nearby El Segundo. The paper also shifted more focus to Los Angeles and Southern California news in recent years, with paper losing both their major editor and about 20% of their news staff in 2024. Politically, the paper likewise bucked years of tradition in terms of endorsements. While their editorial board endorsed Adam Schiff for Senator, Soon-Shiong halted any endorsements for President, causing more editors to resign.
More moves for the L.A. Times
In 2025 unusual moves continued to pile up, including the paper suing Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass over deleted text messages and Soon-Shiong dining with Trump back in May in Riyadh along with Elon Musk. The paper has also been seen trending more and more away from being left-leaning, as said by Soon-Shiong himself.
“I said, ‘This is unacceptable.’ And as you can see, because it’s a left lean, they wrote terrible stories about President Trump,” explained Soon-Shiong in an interview with Tucker Carlson in March. “So my statement to them was, ‘You may have an opinion, but all of us should have opinions based on facts.’”
This all led to the paper going public this week, with Times staff having a mixed reaction.
“I do think it’s indicative that our owner is not happy with his ownership and is looking for alternatives,” expressed L.A. Times opinion columnist Robin Abcarian. “But it’s impossible to know what will happen.”
“L.A. is a difficult market, the Times itself has been rapidly shrinking, has no economies of scale and doesn’t own its own property (it rents to Soon-Shiong last time I checked). It is not your, um, traditional wonderful IPO candidate,” added Media Guild of the West President and former LA Times journalist Matt Pearce. “And I say this as somebody who loves the L.A. Times.”
However, despite some criticism, the continued reshuffle aims to bring back the paper to profitability, with the expanded media to other forms and public ownership zeroing in on expanded readership and interaction. The Times is expected to release more of their plans for public ownership soon.
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Author: Evan Symon
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