Patrick Soon-Shiong, owner of The Los Angeles Times, is denying reports that he was exploring the sale of the company.
The denial on Friday came later The Wall Street Journal reported that the billionaire investor was exploring the sale of the company just three years after buying the Times together with the San Diego Union-Tribune and other Tribune Publishing Company weeklies in 2018 for $ 500 million.
“WSJ article inaccurate. We are committed to @LATimes ”, tweeted Soon-Shiong. “Newspapers are important to the community. Support @LATimes and @sdut. ”
Newspapers are important to the community. Support the @LATimes and @sdut https://t.co/dn76bM9ROL https://t.co/7kNPl4JZVO
– Dr. Pat Soon-Shiong (@DrPatSoonShiong) February 19, 2021
Citing people familiar with the matter, the newspaper reported that Soon-Shiong was considering a direct sale of the company, bringing in an additional investor or transferring management of the properties to another media group.
The Journal also reported that the billionaire investor considered selling or transferring the management of the San Diego Tribune to another company, potentially the MediaNews Group, which belongs to the hedge fund Alden Global Capital.
Alden announced Last week which is acquiring Tribune Publishing in a $ 630 million deal.
Steve Severinghaus, a spokesman for The Journal, told The Hill in a statement: “We are aware of Dr. Soon-Shiong’s tweet. We are confident in our report and will continue to follow this developing story.”
The news comes after Norman Pearlstine announced in December that he was leaving his post as executive editor of the newspaper to take on an advisory role.
Another hiring company is managing the process to find Pearlstine substitutes.
Updated: 20h40