Patrick Soon-Shiong, the billionaire owner and executive chairman of Los Angeles Times, made a surprise announcement this month that he plans to take the influential newspaper public.

With going public, Soon-Shiong said he would revamp the organization of the business operation into a variety of media suites, which will include gaming and creator platforms, under the aegis of the Los Angeles Times Next Network.

Soon-Shiong first announced the decision on the July 21 episode of “The Daily Show,” telling the host Jon Stewart that doing so will allow “it to be democratized and allow the public to have ownership of this paper.” He then explained in a statement that he would pursue a Regulation A financing plan in lieu of a typical initial public offering. Laguna Beach-based Digital Offering will lead the effort to take the newspaper public.

Soon-Shiong told Stewart that making newspapers a forum for all people was crucial.

“As I grew up in South Africa, the only thing that inspired me, that kept me alive, was the newspaper,” he said. “The opportunity for me, working with cancer, hopefully curing cancer, was to have a place where the voice of the people, truly the voice of the people, could be heard.”

Lowballing the newspaper

Soon-Shiong predicted it would take a year to take the El Segundo-based L.A. Times public.

The U.S. Security and Exchange Commission defines Regulation A as an exemption from registration for public offerings. It allows companies to raise relatively smaller amounts, up to $75 million.

Gabriel Kahn at the USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism said Soon-Shiong is lowballing the newspaper.

“The L.A. Times is going to need more than $75 million in order to thrive, considering how much it is losing each year,” Kahn said.

The Times Next Network will include the newspaper; L.A. Times Studios, which will support network’s streaming; L.A.T. Next, described as a “curated creator platform;” Nant Games, focused on esports; and Nant Studios Virtual Productions.

The announcement was met with shock and derision by Times editorial staffers, according to Politico. In his Substack newsletter, former L.A. Times reporter Matt Pearce called the announcement “baffling.”

“L.A. is a difficult market, the Times itself has been rapidly shrinking, has no economies of scale and doesn’t own its own property (it rents to Soon-Shiong last time I checked),” wrote Pearce, who is also an organizer of the L.A. Times Guild newsroom union. “It is not your … traditional wonderful IPO candidate.”

Making changes to the product

Soon-Shiong, a transplant surgeon, made his fortune through the development of pancreatic-cancer drug Abraxane and building a portfolio of drug companies. As of 2024, his net worth was at $21.2 billion.

Soon-Shiong’s public profile rose when he bought a minority stake in the Los Angeles Lakers in 2010. He was appointed to the U.S. Congress’ Health Information Technology Advisory Committee in 2017.

The following year, his investment firm NantCapital acquired the Los Angeles Times and San Diego Union-Tribune from Tronc Inc. for $500 million. In 2023, the Union-Tribune was sold to Alden Capital, owner of MediaNews Group, for an undisclosed amount.

Under his ownership, the newspaper has been caught in much turmoil. He relocated the newspaper from the Times Mirror Square, its landmark downtown headquarters, to its current building which he owns. Despite investments from Soon-Shiong, business declined for the Times. In early 2024, the paper laid off 115 newsroom employees, accounting for 20% of its editorial staff. Economic shock from the pandemic resulted in wiping out $60 million in advertising revenue, according to a Times assessment of its troubles.

Later that year, Soon-Shiong blocked the newspaper from making an endorsement in the U.S. presidential election, setting off a series of resignations from the newspaper’s editorial board.

Late last year, the Times launched its AI-powered “bias meter,” as part of a move to create what Soon-Shiong considered a “fair and balanced” approach in the paper. This was removed a day after its debut when it inserted a note into a column on the Ku Klux Klan, which asserted the group was not explicitly a hate-driven movement, according to The Wrap.

An L.A. Times spokesperson did not respond to request for comment by press time.