LOS ANGELES — The owner of the Los Angeles Times has sold the San Diego Union-Tribune, the newspapers announced late Monday. MediaNews Group purchased the 155-year-old paper that has been owned by the Times ever since billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong bought both news outlets and formed the California Times in 2018. The sale price was not disclosed.

What You Need To Know

  • LA Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong sold the San Diego Union-Tribune Monday for an undisclosed amount

  • Soon-Shiong has owned both newspapers since 2018

  • Alden Global Capital's MediaNews Group now owns the San Diego Union-Tribune, adding to its Southern California News Group portfolio

  • Alden is the second-largest news publisher in the country

“Our intention now is to focus on the ongoing work of transforming the LA Times into a self-sustaining institution,” Soon-Shiong said in a note to staff. “Our hometown of Los Angeles and the state of California — really, the West Coast — needs a strong, independent news organization. We believe in the LA Times and are committed to its future.”

The news of the Union-Tribune sale comes a month after the LA Times announced it was laying off 74 people from the newsroom, or about 13% of its staff.

MediaNews Group is a newspaper publisher owned by the New York-based hedge fund Alden Global Capital. It operates almost 400 news outlets throughout the country, including the Denver Post and the Boston Herald. It also runs the Southern California News Group that includes most of the major newspapers in the area, including the Orange County Register, Los Angeles Daily News, Riverside Press-Enterprise, Daily Breeze, Long Beach Press-Telegram and Pasadena Star-News.

According to the MediaNews website, its monthly audience is more than 60 million. Alden Global Capital is the second-largest newspaper publisher in the country. Only Gannett, which publishes USA Today, is larger.

With its purchase of the San Diego Union-Tribune, the company said cutbacks will be necessary to “offset the slowdown in revenues as economic headwinds continue to impact the media industry,” MediaNews Group executive vice president of California Sharon Ryan said in an email sent to Union-Tribune employees.

On Monday, the new owners said they would offer buyouts to staff for the next week, but if it does not reach the number it needs, the company said it will conduct layoffs. The Union-Tribune employs 220 people, 108 of whom work in the newsroom.

“I’m grateful to the Soon-Shiong family, who were good owners,” Union-Tribune Editor and Publisher Jeff Light said in a statement. “As our staff knows, this isn’t an easy business, but I have a lot of confidence in the future of the Union-Tribune.”