LA Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong announces plans to take paper public

LA Times plans to take paper public

Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong announced plans to take the paper public.

LOS ANGELES - Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, owner of the Los Angeles Times, announced Monday that the paper would be going public, allowing the public to buy in. 

The announcement was made during an interview with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show.  

What we know:

"We are going to take the LA Times public, and allow it to be democratized and allow the public to have ownership of this paper," Soon-Shiong said. 

He said the move would happen over the next year as he's working with organizations to set it up. 

No additional details or plans were announced. 

"My goal, so if you can cure cancer and have people have voice in the paper, I think we have, at least I have, lived this American dream," he told Jon Stewart. 

During the interview, he explained how and why he bought the paper, saying he was only given 48 hours to make his decision. 

"As I grew up in South Africa, the only thing that inspired me, kept me alive, was the newspaper. So the opportunity for me, working on cancer and healing, hopefully curing cancer, is to have a place where the people, the voice of the people, truly the voice of the people could be heard."

The backstory:

The move comes months after Soon-Shiong was criticized for foregoing a presidential endorsement during the 2024 election. Also, earlier that year, more than 20% of the newsroom was laid off. 

The biotech billionaire took control of the Los Angeles Times and San Diego Union-Tribune in 2018 after acquiring them for a staggering $500 million.

According to the LA Times, Soon-Shiong is a South African native and former UCLA surgeon. He has amassed a fortune, estimated by Forbes at $7.5 billion, by building, then selling, two biopharmaceutical companies. He's also on a mission to find a treatment for cancer. Since 2010, he's been a minority owner of the Los Angeles Lakers. 

Soon after Soon-Shiong became executive chairman, he relocated hundreds of employees from the Time's iconic downtown LA location to El Segundo.