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Billionaire Pat Soon-Shiong sells San Diego Union-Tribune to Alden Global Capital
Billionaire media owner Patrick Soon-Shiong has sold the San Diego Union-Tribune to a local news firm owned by New York-based investment firm Alden Global Capital. The sale was announced on Monday in a memo to employees.
UT will join an existing group of newspapers called the Southern California News Group. The company reportedly owns hundreds of weekly magazines and dozens of daily publications.
Transaction
The sale of Union-Tribune to an affiliate of MediaNews Group is the latest twist in a long history of trouble for a leading San Diego newspaper. It was sold, along with its sister newspaper, the Los Angeles Times, to biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong in 2018.
In a memo sent to staff on Monday, Sharon Ryan, vice president of MediaNews Group for California, said the company would offer to buy out employees by next Monday and could lay off people. She added that efforts would be made to disassociate herself from the editorial office.
MediaNews Group, through its Southern California News Group, owns the Los Angeles Daily News, Press-Enterprise of Riverside, Daily Breeze, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Pasadena Star-News, Whittier Daily News, San Bernardino Sun and Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. The company cut jobs at newspapers across the country as ad revenue and circulation fell. The company was criticized in 2018 as a “ruthless corporate miner” who seemed intent on killing a local journalist.
Alden’s global capital
The long-time San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper has been sold to a subsidiary of MediaNews Group, the operating unit of Denver-based investment firm Alden Global Capital. The sale was announced in a staff memo on Monday by Times CEO Chris Argentieri. The sale means that the two newspapers will now operate separately and staff at both publications have been offered a buyout, a common practice when selling large or medium-sized newspapers prior to layoffs.
Billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong bought both the Los Angeles Times and Union-Tribune in 2018 for $500 million from Chicago-based publisher Tronc Inc. A South African-born biotech entrepreneur who also co-owns the Los Angeles Lakers NBA basketball team, he is a surgeon and medical researcher who has developed many drugs.
The deal is the latest to involve a major investment firm trying to get out of a newspaper industry that has been devastated by the demise of print advertising as readers have moved online. Investment firms are often criticized for putting profit ahead of their journalistic mission.
Billionaire Patrick Soon Shiong
Billionaire biotech entrepreneur Patrick Soon-Shiong has sold the San Diego Union-Tribune subsidiary of MediaNews Group in a move that will return both newspapers to local ownership. The sale was announced Monday in a memo to UT staff by Times CEO Chris Argentieri.
A newspaper company owned by New York-based investment firm Alden Global Capital runs a large collection of local newspapers across the country. The company, also known as Digital First Media, consists of hundreds of weeklies and dozens of daily newspapers.
Soon-Shiong purchased the U-T and Los Angeles Times in 2018 for the first time since the end of the Copley family’s long tenure, bringing both publications into local ownership. The sale will allow The Times to focus on expanding its digital presence and attracting a younger readership. It will also free up capital for investment in other projects. But the sale comes at a time of financial stress for the newspaper industry, with Big Tech firms successfully diverting readers and advertising money away from traditional newspapers.
Staff cuts
Billionaire biotechnology executive turned media owner Patrick Soon-Shiong has sold the San Diego Union-Tribune to an affiliate of MediaNews Group, owned by investment firm Alden Global Capital. The sale also includes UT TV and other community weekly magazines. According to a memo sent to employees by MediaNews Group California Vice President Sharon Ryan and obtained by Axios, Soon-Shiong cited financial stress in the newspaper industry as the reason for the sale. He praised the UT staff and said he hoped to continue the newspaper’s legacy of community service.
Employees were stunned by an email they received from their new owners’ HR team. They were told that a buyout package would be available and were given a deadline of next Monday to receive it. The move is expected to result in layoffs, though the exact number is unknown. Current UT editor Jeff Light was not among those affected by the sale and will remain in place.
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