LA Times’ billionaire owner repeatedly fell behind – Business News
The Los Angeles Times repeatedly fell months behind on funds to contractors and distributors — even stiffing one of its own marquee hires — as billionaire owner Patrick Soon-Shiong pressed forward with plans to take the 144-year-old newspaper public, in keeping with a report.
Among these caught within the cost delays was investigative journalist Catherine Herridge, who struggled for months to gather money owed beneath her profitable deal with the paper earlier than lastly getting paid after what sources described as a extended battle, the Status e-newsletter reported.
A spokesperson for the newspaper appeared to verify no less than some of the allegations, telling Status that the company is present on “the majority” of its cost obligations and that funds are “overwhelmingly being made in accordance with contractual terms for all active accounts.”
Patrick Soon-Shiong’s Los Angeles Times allegedly delayed funds to contractors and distributors — together with marquee rent Catherine Herridge, in keeping with a report. Bloomberg through Getty Images
“The assertions being made are not accurate,” the newspaper’s rep informed Status.
“The Times is current on the majority of its payment obligations, and payments are overwhelmingly being made in accordance with contractual terms for all active accounts.”
Herridge reportedly spent months making an attempt to gather funds owed beneath her contract with the Los Angeles Times. Getty Images
The assertion got here after Status reported that the newspaper had repeatedly didn’t pay contractors and distributors on time, with some ready months to obtain cost and solely getting paid after escalating the matter to senior executives or threatening additional motion.
Herridge, the previous CBS News and Fox News investigative reporter, joined the Times with appreciable fanfare in November of final yr after signing what Status described as a profitable deal to host a weekly investigative sequence.
But the e-newsletter reported that the connection rapidly deteriorated behind the scenes because the newspaper fell months behind on funds owed to the veteran investigative reporter.
The Times finally caught up after what sources described to Status as a prolonged battle to gather the money.
The cost dispute got here as Herridge was already dealing with mounting financial stress from an unrelated legal struggle over her refusal to determine a confidential source.
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court rejected Herridge’s emergency bid to dam $800-a-day contempt fines stemming from her refusal to reveal the source behind a Fox News report about a Virginia academic establishment with alleged ties to the Chinese navy.
Soon-Shiong is reportedly in search of to take the Los Angeles Times public even because the newspaper allegedly fell behind on funds to distributors and contractors. AFP through Getty Images
The cost issues on the LA Times have pissed off some executives inside the company, in keeping with the report.
Status mentioned Decatur Holcombe, the paper’s senior vice president of finance, lately resigned after privately expressing considerations concerning the company’s direction.
Holcombe, nevertheless, denied that account, telling Status by means of a Times spokesperson that “any assertion that I resigned from the company over concerns about the state of the business is completely false.”
The report additionally painted Soon-Shiong, the biotech billionaire who purchased the Times in 2018, as intensely cost-conscious regardless of his huge fortune.
According to Status, Soon-Shiong as soon as flew former CBS News president David Rhodes to Los Angeles on a coach-class ticket whereas recruiting him for a senior position on the paper.
The Los Angeles Times is reportedly pursuing an initial public offering that would raise up to $500 million. Christopher Sadowski
Instead of reserving Rhodes a resort room, the billionaire allegedly had him keep in his visitor home and lent him one of his Infiniti SUVs fairly than arranging a rental car.
“That might be why I didn’t take the job,” Rhodes informed Status, saying the expertise made him query Soon-Shiong’s willingness to invest within the newspaper.
The reported cost delays come as Soon-Shiong is in search of to raise as a lot as $500 million by means of an initial public offering of the 144-year-old newspaper, in keeping with Status.
“The state of the business was not the reason for my departure,” Holcombe informed The Post, including that he was “grateful for my time” with the newspaper and that he “left to pursue a new endeavor.”
“I have nothing more to say,” he informed The Post.
The Post has sought remark from Herridge, Rhodes, Soon-Shiong and the LA Times.
