Rumor: Formula E team owner Jay Penske buying LA Times

Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong and entertainment trade publishing magnate and Formula E team owner Jay Penske are discussing a deal to transfer ownership of the LA Times newspaper, according to The Intersect.

The people, who are inside both publishers’ inner circles and asked not to be identified for fear of retribution, said the owners have held talks about a deal where The Times is folded into Penske’s PMC Media empire that includes Rolling Stone, The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, and Variety. It would allow Soon-Shiong, who last week unloaded ownership of The San Diego Union-Tribune to vulture-capital firm Alden Capital, a way out of a legacy news organization bleeding money.

Any deal, which is not guaranteed as these are described as early talks, would transform Penske into an L.A. publishing mogul not seen since the Chandler family had a stranglehold on Southern California media via The Times. He would be a local owner who controls every major publication in Los Angeles, except for Alden’s smaller news outlets like the L.A. Daily News and Orange County Register.  —Source: The Intersect—

Editor’s Note:  Obscure connection to CART, Michael Chandler raced in the early 80s.  His family owned the LA Times at one time.