Billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Times says he will take the newspaper public in the coming year
During an interview on Monday's 'The Daily Show With Jon Stewart,' Soon-Shiong said the move would allow the Times 'to be democratized and allow the public to have ownership of this paper.'
Soon-Shiong said he's working with 'an organization that's putting that together right now.' He didn't identify the organization or say whether the deal would involve an initial public offer to sell shares of the company or another investment arrangement.
'Whether you're right, left, Democrat, 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, is important,' he said.
Soon-Shiong, a biotech billionaire, acquired the Times as part of a $500 million deal, returning it to local ownership two decades after the Chandler family sold it to Tribune Co. Soon-Shiong's purchase raised hopes after years of cutbacks, circulation declines and leadership changes.
But like much of the media industry, the Times has continued to face financial difficulties, losing money and subscribers. Last year the company said it would lay off at least 115 employees — more than 20% of the newsroom — in one of the largest staff cuts in the newspaper's history.
Also in 2024, executive editor Kevin Merida suddenly stepped down after a 2 1/2-year tenure at the newspaper that spanned the coronavirus pandemic and three Pulitzer Prizes, as well as a period of layoffs and contentious contract negotiations.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
28 minutes ago
- USA Today
An unusual six months in Congress of long days and short fuses
Just over six months in, this Congress has witnessed all-nighters, extra-long votes and flaring personalities. 'I will say again - I am tired of making history. I just want (a) normal Congress,' House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, said. His comments to reporters in early July came as the House concluded a more than seven-hour vote, then the longest in the chamber's history (a milestone hit after the chamber had already broken the record a week earlier). Of course, the increasingly partisan, combative, and at times, chaotic atmosphere had infiltrated the modern Congress before Johnson or his Senate counterpart, Majority Leader John Thune, took the gavel. But more than six months in, the 119th Congress has seen its share of unusual or unprecedented moments, from extraordinarily long votes to all-nighter sessions. Here's a look at some of the notable moments of the not "normal" kickoff for the 119th. 'All by myself' House lawmakers this year first surpassed the record for the longest House vote while deliberating President Donald Trump's so-called 'big, beautiful bill' on July 2. The vote was held open for seven hours and 23 minutes. Members of Congress filtered in and out of the chamber, mostly congregating off the floor for deals and debates. But someone, by rule, had to supervise the chamber. More: Which way will Senate swing in 2026? Here are 11 pivotal races that will decide. That lucky representative was Arkansas' Steve Womack. Womack, a Republican, had the task of presiding over the floor starting at 11:45 a.m. and staying at the dais well into the evening. 'I'm told he is very very bored,' NBC's Melanie Zanona posted at the time, 'and singing the Eric Carmen song 'ALL BY MYSELF' to himself.' Meanwhile, House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole, R-Oklahoma, had his own way of killing time. 'Five,' Cole said, when a reporter asked him, around 5 p.m., how many cigars he had so far that day. 'Is that a lot or a little?' one reporter followed up. 'Certainly not a lot,' Cole replied. Senate burns the midnight oil. A lot. Senators also have plenty of time-consuming accomplishments to boast about, were such efforts to be lauded. The upper chamber kicked off July by barely topping a record set in 2008 for the longest 'vote-a-rama' – Washington parlance for a marathon series of votes on amendments to budget bills. Earlier this summer, Democrats were responsible for the bulk of the 45 proposals to revise Trump's sweeping tax, spending and policy bill. It was one more amendment than what senators almost two decades ago had spent hours voting on. The chamber has had three cases of a 'vote-a-rama' so far this year. Often, they mean overnight sessions that stretch more than a dozen hours. The series in early July was an unusual daylight occurrence, though, beginning a little after 9 a.m. on a Monday and lasting past noon the next day. Long days, short fuses After being elected majority leader by his colleagues, Thune promised more working days for a body of government that many Americans accuse of being allergic to work. That mostly meant adding Fridays to the work calendar (though the chamber has been about 50-50 on coming in those Fridays). More recently, there was talk of scrapping senators' typical summer break and instead staying in town to plow through a backlogged agenda. Some congressional correspondents who'd worked through the session thus far weren't so sure about the idea. More: All work and no play: House heads out while Senate eyes skipping summer break 'The Senate really, really needs a recess,' senior HuffPost Igor Bobic wrote online. But after a Saturday slog Aug. 2, lawmakers finally called it and fled the capital for their home states. The House and Senate are both set to return to town Sept. 2. And with a deadline to keep the government funded looming at the end of the month, a broiling debate over Jeffrey Epstein's case files ongoing, and overall tensions still simmering, Speaker Johnson and the rest of the legislative branch are not likely to see a 'normal Congress' anytime soon.
The Hill
28 minutes ago
- The Hill
Most education reformers have no idea what parents and kids want — and they don't care
Most education reformers — especially those interested in low-income communities — rightly focus on the needs and interests of students, whether they are discussing short-term outcomes like standardized testing results, or longer term results like rates of college acceptance and graduation. But the most important question they should be asking is: What do the parents in these communities want for their children? What do their extended family, mentors and pastors want? Unfortunately, even the best-intentioned reformers rarely entertain this question. Parents are the most important stakeholders in matters of education after the children themselves, yet reformers' ideological and emotional interests consistently take precedence over those of the parents and the local community. All too often, the education of poor or marginalized children gets lost in ideological battles between groups of elites who are completely removed from the communities they purport to defend. Elitist social justice initiatives — such as tossing out commonsense academic and behavioral standards because of supposed racial justice concerns — are a prime example of this 'soft bigotry of low expectations.' Is it acceptable to lower standards for certain children even if their parents want them to be held to a higher standard? Respect and consideration of parental priorities is one of the major reasons that indigenous, community-oriented and community-generated educational projects produce objectively excellent and even superior outcomes to top-down interventions from reformers outside the community. Take the Rosenwald schools: Booker T. Washington of the Tuskegee Institute and Julius Rosenwald, then-president of Sears Roebuck, joined to create one of the most remarkable educational successes of American history — yet remarkably few people know that they ever existed. Noting the dire lack of funding for education of Black children in the Jim Crow-era South, the Rosenwald Fund contributed $4.3 million — matched and exceeded by $4.7 million raised by Black communities themselves — to build over 5,000 schools, shops and associated homes across the segregated South. The Rosenwald schools were both very successful and indigenous projects: The seed money empowered local men, women and children to narrow the racial literacy gap in the Jim Crow-era American South by a stunning 40 percent. Within a generation, a three-year racial education gap shrank to well under a year. These highly localized, community-driven projects succeeded in the face of widespread, bitter discrimination. A modern-day example of indigenously led excellence can be seen in the Piney Woods School, a challenging preparatory school serving underprivileged children that was founded by Laurence Clifton Jones in 1909. Piney Woods serves a student body that wouldn't otherwise have access to a high-quality education, and relies largely on the generosity of donors to fund the scholarships for many of those who attend. But these kids, and their families, don't want a handout. They don't want low expectations. They want a challenge. And a challenge is what they receive. The school emphasizes self-responsibility, self-government and empowerment from within the communities and families it serves rather than from outside or 'above' them. Every student commits to working an on-campus job — in fact, the bulk of the campus buildings were built by students themselves. And their families donate or contribute to the school. They aren't looking to be accommodated or coddled. They don't want to be excused, and never have — even in the face of clear racism. There is a cautionary tale of reform, however, and it is the charter school movement. Charter schools are an increasingly common and often promising mode of educational reform, but they often flounder on the simple fact that reformers eventually rely on politics, rather than community interests, to guide their decisions. Former inner-city public school teacher Robert Pondiscio, in his recent review of Steve Wilson's book 'The Lost Decade,' briefly recounts the rise and fall of the 'no excuses' charter school model. In its ascendant years, the model allowed urban and underprivileged students to excel beyond anyone's expectations. But then it failed, catastrophically, under the growing weight of social justice culture. The schools that offered an irreplaceable chance at academic excellence — and long-term professional success — to Black students all over the country were sabotaged by the anxieties of political elites locked in pointless ideological battles over 'whiteness.' White guilt became more important than Black excellence. These charter schools abandoned the 'no excuses' standards that had helped lift students up from disadvantaged backgrounds as outdated or racist, replacing them with 'equity' initiatives that are leading today to low scores and low achievement. But no one asked the community leaders, who stand to gain or lose the most, if they were on board with these changes. Parents are stakeholders. Children are stakeholders. Siblings, aunts and uncles, mentors, pastors — anyone invested in these kids' lives are stakeholders. And that is the only real safeguard that communities have here: direct participation in and influence over the well-being of the children. If we want to build a more just society, we can and should begin by abandoning the top-down, ideologically-motivated model of educational reform. We must stop letting the elites destroy the strongest chance our most vulnerable children have at improving their station in life. Indigenous projects are the very best of our past — and they will be the very best of our future. Bob Woodson is the founder and president of the Woodson Center, and editor of the book ' A Pathway to American Renewal: Red, White, and Black Vol II. ' Will Crossley is the executive vice president of the Woodson Center and president of the Piney Woods School.
Miami Herald
28 minutes ago
- Miami Herald
Miami judge becomes first confirmed U.S. attorney during Trump's second term
President Donald Trump's first confirmed nominee for U.S. Attorney is a Miami-Dade judge whose professional background includes poor job evaluations in the office he will now lead. On Saturday, Judge Jason A. Reding Quiñones secured a 49-44 cloture vote in the U.S. Senate. He will now head the U.S. Attorney's Office in South Florida, replacing interim U.S. Attorney Hayden O'Byrne. READ MORE: Trump picks U.S. attorney in Miami. As criminal prosecutor, he received poor evaluations Trump posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, 'Very proud of our great Republican Senators for fighting, over the Weekend and far beyond, if necessary, in order to get my great Appointments approved, and on their way to helping us MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!' The Miami Herald could not reach Reding Quiñones for comment. Reding Quiñones, formerly a federal prosecutor in the Miami office, was appointed as a Miami-Dade County judge a year ago by Gov. Ron DeSantis and is a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserve. After graduating from Florida International University's law school in 2008, he began his career practicing corporate law before transitioning to a military lawyer for the U.S. Air Force and then joining the Justice Department. Soon after, he joined the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami as a prosecutor in the major crimes section, where he would receive poor evaluations from supervisors relating to incompetence; however, Reding Quiñones filed a discrimination complaint claiming he was being targeted because of his race. He would later drop that complaint and continue on in the Miami office's civil division, where he recieved satisfactory job evaluations. Despite this history, University of Richmond Law Professor Carl Tobias said it likely wouldn't have a big impact on his confirmation by the Senate. The Senate Judiciary Committe process for evaluating U.S Attorney nominees is 'not very rigorous,' Tobias said. That's because, he said, the panel doesn't have the resources to conduct hearings and instead relies on staff analysis and recommendations. 'Practically all nominees receive no discussion and voice votes, unless staff detects red flags,' he said. Tobias believes confirmations have grown increasingly politicized, but in a rare occurrence, Reding Quiñones received a 12-9 committee party line vote before the process continued to the Senate where he would be confirmed. The confirmation is not only a victory for the president, but also a much-needed move for the Miami office, which has remained one of the busiest in the country despite growing struggles. Since the resignation of former U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe, the first Black lawyer to hold the position in South Florida, earlier this year, the office has lost a half a dozen senior career prosecutors. READ MORE: Miami U.S. Attorney, first Haitian-American in post, to resign before Trump takes office 'The [South Florida office] does critical law enforcement work and its several hundred attorneys function more smoothly when the office has a permanent, Senate-confirmed leader, who cooperates effectively with the Justice Department and other US Attorneys,' Tobias said. While the U.S. Attorney position may now be filled, other seats in South Florida and the rest of the state have not made it through Senate confirmation hearings yet. The Senate failed to confirm one Trump federal judge nominee who would preside in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida and three nominees for the Middle District. Tobias noted that these are emergency vacancies, as both districts have substantial caseloads that are reaching or already surpassing protracted lengths without resolution. The Senate is now in recess, which means any appointments will have to wait until September when it resumes session. 'The diligent, overloaded Southern and Middle District judges and the people of Florida must wait for relief,' Tobias said.
