Los Angeles Times owners sell San Diego Union-Tribune to publishing powerhouse
The owner of the Los Angeles Times has sold the San Diego Union-Tribune to MediaNews Group
LOS ANGELES — The owner of the Los Angeles Times has sold sister paper The San Diego Union-Tribune to MediaNews Group, which owns hundreds of papers around the country, the paper announced Monday.
The decision comes after the LA Times announced last month that it was cutting 74 jobs — 13% of its newsroom positions — to deal with financial difficulties.
The Union-Tribune, which covers the second-largest city in California, will now be owned by the same chain that owns a slew of Southern California newspapers. The parent company is Alden Global Capital, a New York hedge fund that has been buying up newspapers across the country and faced criticism for slashing budgets and cutting jobs.
The new owner is offering employee buyouts through next Monday and may lay people off, the Union-Tribune reported. Sharon Ryan, executive vice president of California for MediaNews Group, said in an email to employees that cutbacks will be needed to “offset the slowdown in revenues as economic headwinds continue to impact the media industry," the paper reported. Efforts will be made to make cuts away from the newsroom, the email said.
The LA Times and Union-Tribune were purchased in 2018 by billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong and his family for $500 million from Chicago-based Tribune Publishing. The Union-Tribune sale was completed Monday, according to a memo to staff members from the California Times president and chief executive officer, Chris Argentieri.
The price of the sale wasn't disclosed.
“Our intention now is to focus on the ongoing work of transforming the L.A. Times into a self-sustaining institution,” Patrick Soon-Shiong said in a statement
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