Los Angeles Times owner says he plans to take paper public

Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong said he wants to take the newspaper public in a Monday appearance on "The Daily Show."Why it matters: The announcement comes after years of newsroom turmoil as the biotech billionaire tries to reshape the legacy paper.What they're saying: "Whether you're right, left, Democratic, Republican, you're an American, so the opportunity for us to provide a paper that is the voices of the people, truly the voices of the people, so I'm going to announce something with you tonight," Soon-Shiong told host Jon Stewart."We're going to take the LA Times public and allow it to be democratized and allow the public to be the ownership of this paper," he said. Soon-Shiong said the timeline was over the next year and that he was working with an organization to put the deal together. Between the lines: Soon-Shiong's remarks came after Stewart gave an impassioned speech about the media needing to stand up to President Trump in the wake of CBS' decision to cancel "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert."Before Soon-Shiong's announcement, Stewart had asked about the owner's ethical leadership given he could be incentivized to appease the Food and Drug Administration and the wider Trump administration in order to get approval on his biomedical work. Soon-Shiong responded to the initial question that he would go to competitors like the New York Times or The Wall Street Journal for his stories about his work. Asked if the LA Times offends the administration, Soon-Shiong said, "It may and it probably does."Flashback: Soon-Shiong bought The LA Times and the San Diego Union-Tribune in 2018 for $500 million. He sold the latter to MediaNews Group in 2023. The owner has repeatedly faced backlash from his staff for his decisions. He blocked the paper's planned presidential endorsement for Kamala Harris, prompting its editorial editor to resign and a reported 20,000 subscription cancellations.In a December interview with the LA Times, Soon-Shiong said he planned to be more involved in the opinion section and add more moderate and conservative commentators. He also introduced an AI-powered "bias meter" to label ideological leanings.The LA Times cut 115 newsroom employees, more than 20% of its newsroom, early last year. The company laid off more than a dozen staffers in May. Representatives for the LA Times did not immediately respond to Axios' Monday evening request for comment.

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