The sale of the Los Angeles Times to Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong will be complete on Monday, when the biotech billionaire takes control of a suite of Southern California media outlets that also includes the San Diego Union-Tribune, the L.A. Times reported Saturday.
When Soon-Shiong assumes control of the L.A. Times, it will return the paper to local ownership for the first time since 2000, when it was sold to Chicago-based Tribune Publishing, now called Tronc.
Soon-Shiong reached a deal with Tronc to buy the L.A. Times, Union-Tribune and other publications for $500 million in February, though final negotiations continued into summer.
Tronc stocks took a beating in May after the company admitted in an after-hours earnings call that both the $500 million deal and a smaller plan to unload the stock of ex-chairman Michael Ferro to McCormick Media had yet to be completed.
Soon-Shiong will take over just weeks before the paper is relocated from the iconic downtown L.A. art deco building it has called home since 1935, to a building in El Segundo, just south of LAX.
The paper lost ownership of the building after the sale to Tribune in 2000. Tribune sold the building out from under the L.A. Times in 2016, and after the deal with Soon-Shiong in 2018, the new owner of the building opted to increase rent by $1 million a month, the Times reported in April.
Soon-Shiong has said he intends to invest the savings from moving to the new location in hiring more journalists, improving newsroom technology and creating an eight-floor, modern building with free parking and other amenities.
It has been a tumultuous 2018 for Los Angeles Times staffers. In January, the paper ousted editor-in-chief Lewis D’Vorkin after two months, and replaced him with Jim Kirk, the former interim editor.
9 Stars Who Faced Consequences After Inappropriate Tweets, From Roseanne to Alec Baldwin (Photos)
A lot of celebrities have said dumb, offensive or tasteless things on Twitter. But while most of them just get ratio'd until they apologize or delete the problem away, some stars have had to face real consequences for their 280-character mistakes. Most prominently was Roseanne Barr, whose ABC sitcom was canceled after she tweeted racist comments about former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett and billionaire Democratic Party donor George Soros. Here are some other stars who paid a steep price for the things they tweeted.
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Chad Ochocinco - Aug. 2010
It wasn't what football star Chad Ochocinco tweeted, but when he tweeted that got him in trouble. Ochocinco was fined $25,000 by the NFL after tweeting during a football game he was playing in. "Man I'm sick of getting hit like that , its the damn preseason [expletive]! 1day I'm gone jump up and start throwing hay makers , #Tylenolplease," he wrote. He sent another tweet at the end of the game apologizing, adding, "1st time twitter hasn't made me money but cost me money."
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Gilbert Gottfried - March 2011
Gilbert Gottfried is known for shocking audiences, but his joke about a tsunami that hit Japan didn't go over so well with insurance company Aflac. Gottfried voiced the Aflac duck in the company's commercials for 11 years but was fired when he tweeted, "I just split up with my girlfriend, but like the Japanese say, 'There'll be another one floating by any minute now."
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Alec Baldwin - June 2013
Alec Baldwin came under fire back in 2013 when he tweeted threatening, homophobic comments to a reporter who wrote a story that Baldwin's wife tweeted during the funeral for James Gandolfini. "If (sic) put my foot up your f—ing ass, George Stark, but I'm sure you'd dig it too much," said Baldwin. He followed that with: "I'm gonna find you, George Stark, you toxic little queen, and I'm gonna f— … you … up." He later apologized directly to GLAAD and briefly suspended his use of Twitter.
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CeeLo Green - Sept. 2014
Singer CeeLo Green's show "The Good Life" was canceled by TBS in the same week that Green both pleaded no contest to a felony charge and tweeted the following about rape: “People who have really been raped REMEMBER!!!" He also said, "If someone is passed out they’re not even WITH you consciously! so WITH Implies consent.” Green later apologized.
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Rosie O'Donnell - Dec. 2017
Rosie O'Donnell was slapped by Twitter itself after telling conservative pundit Ben Shapiro to "suck my d---." Shapiro reported her, and after Twitter initially said the tweet did not violate its policy, Shapiro cried double standard. Twitter reversed its position soon after and removed her tweets.
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David Eason - Feb. 2018
David Eason, who starred on MTV's "Teen Mom 2," was fired from the show in February after tweeting homophobic comments. He referred to gay and transgender people as "abominations" who he would teach his kids not to associate with.
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James Gunn - July 2018
Director James Gunn was fired from Marvel and Disney's "Guardians of the Galaxy" franchise after a series of old tweets of his resurfaced making "offensive" jokes about rape and pedophilia. Gunn apologized for the tweets, and the stars of "Guardians of the Galaxy," most notably actor Dave Bautista, defended Gunn and asked that he be reinstated as director.
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James Woods - Sept. 2018
Actor James Woods found himself locked out from Twitter after sharing a meme that was considered potentially "misleading" about the midterm elections. Woods is a noted conservative known for his often inflammatory right-wing commentary. He even revealed on Twitter he was dropped by his agent on July 4, who said he was feeling "patriotic" to no longer represent Woods. Fellow pundits accused Twitter of a liberal bias with an attempt to silence conservative voices. Woods was eventually reinstated to Twitter in October and said he did not delete the offending tweet in order to get reinstated. "As a conservative I am not about to walk on eggshells because of Twitter’s bias or liberal insanity in general,” Woods said upon returning to Twitter.
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Rosie O’Donnell, Gilbert Gottfried and Chad Ochocinco got slapped with more than just backlash after these social media faux pas
A lot of celebrities have said dumb, offensive or tasteless things on Twitter. But while most of them just get ratio'd until they apologize or delete the problem away, some stars have had to face real consequences for their 280-character mistakes. Most prominently was Roseanne Barr, whose ABC sitcom was canceled after she tweeted racist comments about former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett and billionaire Democratic Party donor George Soros. Here are some other stars who paid a steep price for the things they tweeted.
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