Soon-Shiong family sells San Diego Union-Tribune

Patrick Soon-Shiong and his family have sold the San Diego Union-Tribune to competing publisher MediaNews Group, slimming down the family’s holdings to just one news organization — the Los Angeles Times.

California Times President and Chief Operating Officer Chris Argentieri announced the sale of The Times’ sister publication to an affiliate of the Denver-based MediaNews Group, which is owned by controversial New York hedge fund Alden Global Capital.

The company did not disclose a purchase price. Argentieri said in a statement the sale was finalized Monday.

Soon-Shiong and his family spent $500 million in June 2018 to buy The Times and the Union-Tribune from Chicago-based Tribune Publishing after a decade of turmoil and dramatic cuts to The Times. While Soon-Shiong’s primary interest was in The Times, he pledged support for both newsrooms.

The family “made a good good faith effort to rebuild and support both news organizations,” Soon-Shiong said in a statement.

In the five years since the purchase, the newspaper industry has become more fraught due to subscriber losses and shortfalls in advertising revenue that intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic. Two years ago, Tribune sold its operations, including the Chicago Tribune, to Alden for $633 million.

Alden already owns more than 70 dailies across the country, including the Orange County Register, Long Beach Press-Telegram and Los Angeles Daily News.

“The Union-Tribune is a great news organization with a long, distinguished history that I hope will continue to serve the San Diego community for generations to come,” Soon-Shiong said. “Our intention now is to focus on the ongoing work of transforming the L.A. Times into a self-sustaining institution. Our hometown of Los Angeles and the state of California — really, the West Coast — needs a strong, independent news organization. We believe in the L.A. Times and are committed to its future.”

Last month, The Times announced that it was cutting 74 positions due to financial difficulties.

Full-time and temporary workers were let go. The Times’ reporting positions were largely spared but the production staff was scaled back.

Nearly a third of the cuts came from news operations and copy editor ranks. Photographers, audience engagement editors, news operations managers, audio producers and sports copy editors lost their jobs.

The Times announced Sunday it will no longer carry game coverage, box scores or listings in its print newspaper. The paper’s new sports section will have a magazine-style format with in-depth profiles, investigations, analysis and opinion columns.