Tronc-ated

7 February 2018 By Jennifer Saba Follow @jennifersaba

Patrick Soon-Shiong is buying the badly named firm’s California papers for $500 mln. It’s a financially savvy deal, but means Tronc is little more than a grab bag of second-tier regional publications. Boss Michael Ferro is better off finding other vanity buyers for what’s left.

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Tronc said on Feb. 7 it has agreed to sell the Los Angeles Times, The San Diego Union-Tribune and some other newspapers in California to Nant Capital for $500 million in cash plus the assumption of $90 million in pension liabilities.

Nant Capital is the private investment vehicle of Patrick Soon-Shiong, who is also one of the top shareholders in Tronc.

The titles generated approximately $470 million in revenue for the 12-month period ending Sept. 30, or 30 percent of Tronc’s top line of $1.5 billion. Tronc also said on Feb. 7 it acquired a 60 percent stake in online product-review company BestReviews for $66 million, consisting of $30 million in cash and $36 million in common stock.

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