Tensions erupt at Los Angeles Times as owner weighs deep cuts

Los Angeles Times journalists gathered Thursday at Flora, a rooftop bar not far from the paper's headquarters, to toast their departing editor, Kevin Merida.

Talk was focused on why Merida, the paper's editor for nearly three years, had decided to suddenly announced his departure.

In the days since, internal negotiations between the company and the employee union have included talk of about 100 job cuts, or about 20% of the newsroom, according to two of the people, who also have knowledge about the discussions. It has put journalists at the Times at odds with their owner, biotechnology billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong. Those relations reached a nadir on Friday when employees walked off the job, in the newsroom's first union-organized work stoppage in the 142-year history of the newspaper.

The tensions escalated further Monday, after several of the state's congressional representatives sent Soon-Shiong a letter raising concerns about the scope of the cuts and employees received a note informing them that two other senior editors had departed.

A spokesperson for the company, Hillary Manning, had no comment on tensions in the newsroom or the scope of the proposed cuts but said in a statement that the newspaper appreciated “the concerns elected officials have expressed regarding the anticipated layoffs.”

She added that the Los Angeles Times, the largest news organization on the West Coast, had appealed to lawmakers to pass legislation that could help address financial challenges faced by local news publishers.

When Soon-Shiong bought the paper in 2018, the Los Angeles Times reported that its newsroom included about 400 people, with roughly 138,000 digital subscribers. Journalists, who had been beleaguered by years of corporate infighting and cost cutting, welcomed a wealthy owner who said he was committed to investing. Over two years, about 150 new journalists were hired, and the paper reinvested in coverage of foreign news and expanded its digital presence.

But in June, the Times shed 74 newsroom roles, or about 13% of its workforce, in the first major cuts under Soon-Shiong's ownership. Losing an additional 20% of the newsroom would return it to roughly the same staffing levels as when Soon-Shiong bought the company.