The San Diego Union-Tribune has been sold to MediaNews Group, a Denver-based operating unit of Alden Global Capital.
The sale was announced Monday by biotech entrepreneur Patrick Soon-Shiong in an email to staff of the Los Angeles Times, which he continues to own.
It’s the fifth sale of the 154-year-old newspaper since David Copley, the last member of the San Diego newspaper family, divested the business in 2009
“Our intention now is to focus on the ongoing work of transforming the L.A. Times into a self-sustaining institution,” said Soon-Shiong. “Our hometown of Los Angeles and the state of California — really, the West Coast — needs a strong, independent news organization.”
He said he hoped the Union-Tribune “will continue to serve the San Diego community for generations to come.”
Soon-Shiong purchased both newspapers in 2018 and set up many combined operations, including printing, to cut costs.
Los Angeles Times president Chris Argentieri said the transaction to sell the Union-Tribune was completed Monday afternoon.
Alden Global Capital, a New York-based investment firm, already owns a majority of the large- and medium-sized newspapers in California, including the San Jose Mercury News, Orange County Register and Riverside Press-Enterprise.
The investment firm, which formerly operated as a hedge fund, has a reputation for sharply cutting costs by reducing the number of journalists working at its newspapers.
A memo sent to Union-Tribune employees Monday warned of “difficult staffing decisions” including buyouts ahead.
“No different than the changes announced at the Los Angeles Times last month, the U- T will also need to make some difficult staffing decisions as we assume management,” according to the memo from Sharon Ryan, executive vice president of the California MediaNews Group. “Reductions will be necessary to offset the slowdown in revenues as economic headwinds continue to impact the media industry.”
“We will seek efficiencies in business operations, distribution and production while striving to support and prioritize the robust, local newsgathering needed to serve the communities that rely on the Union-Tribune for excellence in journalism,” the memo said.
Ryan blamed the newspaper industry’s problems on “substantial revenue pressures brought on by big tech aggregators who redistribute our original content for their own profit.”
