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. FILE - Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong arrives in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York, Jan. 10, 2017. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, file)
'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.
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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.
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Winnipeg Free Press
19 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
DC council set for Aug. 1 vote on updated Commanders stadium plan after Trump threatened to block it
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Global News
an hour ago
- Global News
U.S. steelmakers say Trump's tariffs ‘working,' want Canada to follow suit
Some top American steel producers are cheering on U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs on foreign steel while raising prices on their own products, with one steelmaker urging Canada to copy Trump's protectionist trade policies. Both Cleveland-Cliffs and Steel Dynamics said in their latest quarterly earnings reports this week that they are charging buyers about 14 per cent more than they did in the previous quarter, while Acerinox said it is considering doing the same as soon as this fall. Economists say such price increases are a natural result of tariffs, and are warning Canada to avoid the Trump administration's 'sledgehammer' approach that ends up squeezing buyers. 'A scalpel approach is much more necessary here, because it's so complex,' said Harish Krishnan, a professor at the University of British Columbia's Sauder School of Business who focuses on supply chain management. Story continues below advertisement The U.S. approach, he added, 'is going to be negative for costs in the short and long term.' 4:26 Federal gov't response to latest U.S. Tariffs Steel Dynamics reported on Tuesday its average steel price in the second quarter of this year was US$1,134 per tonne, up from US$998 in the first quarter. Cleveland-Cliffs said it was selling steel during the same quarter at US$1,015 a tonne on average, up from US$980 in the first quarter. Acerinox, the largest producer of stainless steel in the U.S., said in a post-earnings call Thursday it was also looking to increase its prices later this year, but CEO Bernardo Velazquez acknowledged doing so 'is not easy under the current circumstances.' The CEO of Daimler Truck North America, which buys steel for the school buses and semi-trucks it manufactures, told the New York Times this week that it would be difficult to pass on the higher steel costs to its customers, particularly at a time of lower demand for its products. Story continues below advertisement The company said last week it was reducing its workforce by 2,000 employees. 'Whenever you introduce a tariff, it has two effects,' said Werner Antweiller, an economics professor and chair in international trade policy at the University of British Columbia. 'It basically raises the prices in the market overall because it curtails output, and so consumers are paying a higher price overall, and then the domestic producers are pulling even to the price of the foreign producers.' Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Antweiller said those higher costs will have downstream impacts not just on buyers like Daimler Truck, but also the North American auto industry, which relies on steel and aluminum — including American automakers that Trump has said he wants to protect. Despite those impacts, Krishnan said, 'As profit maximizers, it makes total sense for the sellers to raise their prices.' 8:50 Automotive parts manufacturers association doesn't want countertariffs Both Cleveland-Cliffs and Steel Dynamics said they expect prices to remain stable in upcoming quarters — meaning they will remain at higher levels. 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Goncalves on Tuesday claimed the new measures will only affect 17 per cent of the steel imported to Canada, and urged Carney to expand its tariffs to all foreign trade partners in line with the U.S. He said countries with free trade agreements 'continue to use Canada as their outlet for overproduction.' Cleveland-Cliffs owns the Canadian steel company Stelco after buying it from U.S. Steel last year. 'If Prime Minister Carney and his cabinet really want to have a steel industry in Canada, they should put in place significant trade protections,' Goncalves said during Tuesday's call. 'Then they will have a strong domestic steel industry in Canada, able to support a vibrant and domestic Canadian market. 'We are doing just that here in the United States, and it's working.' Story continues below advertisement 1:30 Carney announces steel tariff countermeasures in support of workers Antweiller warned Ottawa against following that advice. 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Story continues below advertisement Industry Minister Melanie Joly told reporters early this month the government was talking to Rio Tinto about potential liquidity relief as well. Both Goncalves and Millett, the Steel Dynamics CEO, said Tuesday they expect the steel and aluminum tariffs to stay in place even under negotiated trade deals that see other country or sector-specific tariffs removed. 'So far, there is no indication that the Section 232 tariffs will be used as a bargaining chip by the Trump administration as leverage in trade deals with other countries,' Goncalves said. Federal negotiators have said the steel and aluminum tariffs have been a focus of talks with the U.S. toward a new trade and security deal. Trump has threatened Canada with new tariffs starting Aug. 1 unless a deal is set. Economists are hopeful that the White House begins to see the damage that will be created if the tariffs remain in place. 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Vancouver Sun
an hour ago
- Vancouver Sun
An American sent to Canada was shocked by how furious Canadians are at the U.S.
Canadians are well aware of the trade pressures and annexation talk from south of the border. But what do Americans think? New York magazine has devoted a sizeable portion of a recent issue — and its cover, featuring an angry beaver with a chokehold on a scrawny bald eagle — to the topic. Its headline: You Have No Idea How Furious the Canadians Are. Features writer Simon van Zuylen-Wood flew into the war zone that is Canadians' anti-American sentiment. He writes that he reoriented his algorithms to flood him with CanCon, turned on push notifications from Canadian news sources, 'and temporarily moved my family north of the border,' travelling with his wife and child, and making Toronto his new home for a month. 'I totally tried to Method-act and really put myself in the shoes of a Canadian,' he told National Post in an interview. 'To the extent that I was buying Canadian groceries and going to the Canadian LCBO. I tried to become one.' Get top headlines and gossip from the world of celebrity and entertainment. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sun Spots will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. Van Zuylen-Wood said he and his editors hit on the idea for the article after the election of Prime Minister Mark Carney in March, which he described as 'an entire election … seemingly decided as a kind of referendum.' It solidified when Carney met with U.S. President Donald Trump two months later at the White House, during which Trump continued to talk about Canada becoming the 51st state. 'As I started to make phone calls from New York, it became clear that I wasn't fully aware, and Americans in general weren't fully aware, of the scale of the reaction against America and the depth of feeling behind that,' van Zuylen-Wood said. And so he got on a plane to Toronto. He'd been to Canada before, and had what he called 'a journalist's baseline awareness of global affairs with our northern neighbour (and) a little bit of of added know-how due to … extended family.' 'I know what the National Post is,' he said. 'I know what the Globe and Mail is. I know what the Toronto Star is. But nothing preparing me for what it's like to really live there, and to enter what I've been thinking about as a parallel universe.' 'Anti-American resistance was visible as soon as I landed,' he writes in his article of his time at Toronto's Pearson airport. 'At a news kiosk … the cover of Maclean's, the de facto national magazine, teased '20 Reasons to Eat Canadian.' Inside was a letter from the editor about canceling a vacation to Cape Cod.' When he picked up the following issue, it contained articles about 'Why Canada Will Never Be an American State,' 'How to Fight Back Against Trump's Tariffs' and 'Fear and Loathing in a Canadian Border Town.' In a grocery store he saw how 'Canada-affiliated products had been demarcated with red maple-leaf insignia — an official act of solidarity that complemented the consumer practice of flipping U.S. products upside down to make them easier to avoid.' He learned about apps like Maple Scan that identify Canadian products. He discovered that Premier Doug Ford — 'brother of the late Rob Ford, the scandal-plagued Toronto mayor' — had pulled U.S. booze from LCBO shelves. He even visited Grizzly Bar , a Canadian-themed Toronto watering hole serving cocktails with names like TVO Kids and Hadfield. It features a Wall of Heroes featuring framed photos of Ryan Reynolds, Leonard Cohen, Shania Twain, Margaret Atwood, Alex Trebek and more; and a map of the key battles of the War of 1812. Some of van Zuylen-Wood's finds were probably already known to many Americans, like Scarborough native Mike Myers' pro-Canadian appearances on Saturday Night Live . Others may have been news to New York-based readers of the piece, like the time that Jagmeet Singh 'was spotted attending a Kendrick Lamar concert' and 'groveled for forgiveness' from Lamar's Canadian nemesis Drake, claiming he had been there only to see the other headliner, SZA. Van Zuylen-Wood's article unpacks the shaky but incontrovertible Canadian patriotism even among some separatist-minded Quebecers, the well-timed speech to Parliament by Charles III, King of Canada, and the recent political gains made by the Liberal Party of Canada against the background of Trump's talk of tariffs and annexation. 'Part of the purpose of this story … was to bring news back,' he said, 'and to tell Americans that this place that you thought you understood and that you thought was this placid, easygoing place is not so placid and easygoing any more.' But in terms of, as he put it, 'rectifying that imbalance, reactions were what be deemed mixed. 'There was a reaction of raised-eyebrow surprise,' he said. 'The first reaction is, 'Oh my God I had no idea of the extent of it.' And I think a curiosity and an eagerness to learn more.' But beyond a sort of sombre head-shaking, and particularly from more right-leaning readers, there wasn't much sympathy. 'Certainly on social media I saw a lot of taunting reactions to my piece,' he said. 'Who cares? We don't need them. We're the big bad elephant in the room. That sort of thing. But it's not deeply felt, even among Trump supporters. No one is listing it as their top issue.' He reached out to political wonks and foreign policy types, 'and frankly they're thinking more about arctic security and critical minerals in Greenland than they are those issues in Canada. It was actually hard to find people who were thinking extremely seriously about this. It's not in the portfolio really deeply of anyone except Donald Trump it looks like.' And where does it go from here? 'I think it kind of depends a lot on Canadian sentiment,' van Zuylen-Wood said. 'My prediction, not that you should trust my predictions, is that it will reverse itself on the American side, in that I don't think there's a strategic game here that would go beyond Trump. Even a highly protectionist JD Vance administration I don't think would include anything about the annexation threat, and I don't think it would be quite as erratic and bullying.' That said, he spoke to some Canadians who claimed they were done with America. 'I talked to people who said, 'We don't care who the next president is. This relationship is over. We don't want to go. We don't feel welcome.' And I think a lot of people maybe mean it. For some people it'll thaw, especially if the next president is a Democrat. But my sense is it kind of depends on how Canadians feel.' Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here .
