Media

The billionaire owner of the venerable Los Angeles Times, who has steered his news organization toward a more Donald Trump-friendly direction, has been falling behind on his bills, raising eyebrows about the paper's future.

According to a report from Oliver Darcy's Status, Patrick Soon-Shiong — who made his fortune in biotech — is finding, like his billionaire counterpart Jeff Bezos, owner of the Washington Post, that changing the political direction of their media organization has a cost that includes the loss of subscribers. The collapse accelerated after the Times issued an internal memo in December 2024 restraining negative reporting of Trump. When the directive leaked, angry readers fled the publication in droves, dealing a serious blow to subscription revenue.

Now the bills are coming due. According to people who spoke to Status, the Times has repeatedly "fallen behind on payments owed to contractors and vendors." The newspaper has regularly failed to make payments on time, falling months behind schedule. In some cases, the Times only paid bills after matters were escalated internally to senior executives or threats of legal action were made.

A Times spokesperson attempted damage control, claiming the company is current on "the majority" of its payment obligations—a telling phrase that confirms the newspaper is still delinquent on some bills.

"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," the spokesperson told Status.

The financial hemorrhaging has sparked internal alarm. Of note, Decatur Holcombe, the paper's senior vice president of finance, recently resigned after privately expressing "concerns" about the state of the business. Though Holcombe denied the characterization in a statement provided by the Times, stating, "Any assertion that I resigned from the company over concerns about the state of the business is completely false," his departure set off red flags among company staffers.

The financial chaos is particularly puzzling given Soon-Shiong's biotech wealth. Over the past two years, he has repeatedly promised to invest in the Times while courting MAGA-friendly personalities for various projects—all while laying off newsroom staff.

In November 2025, the LA Times announced with fanfare that it had recruited conservative journalist Catherine Herridge, formerly of Fox News and CBS News, to host a new weekly investigative series. Herridge praised the newspaper for "partnering with independent journalists" and providing resources "to follow the facts wherever they lead."

Months later, Herridge was likely regretting that enthusiasm, the Status report asserted. Behind the scenes, the relationship has been fraught and contentious, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke with Darcy.

Reportedly, Herridge struggled to collect payments soon after signing her lucrative deal with the Times. The newspaper fell several months behind on payments owed to her—a pattern that only resolved after a protracted battle. Her experience, however, was not isolated and reflects broader cash-flow problems plaguing the organization.

According to Status, the timing comes at an awkward moment for Soon-Shiong, who is simultaneously seeking to raise up to $500 million to take the 144-year-old newspaper public, even as it hemorrhages money.

The turmoil at CBS News after controversial news head Bari Weiss executed a purge at “60 Minutes” newsmagazine, which culminated with the firing of popular Scott Pelley, is having a ripple effect, with network executives expressing “alarm.”

According to media watchdog Status, the immediate aftermath of Scott Pelley's firing saw "CBS Mornings" hemorrhage viewers. The show averaged 1.59 million total viewers in the days following Pelley's termination—an 11 percent drop from the 1.8 million viewers the program was already drawing, with an even more catastrophic 28 percent collapse in the advertiser-coveted 25-54 demographic.

While viewership partially rebounded in subsequent weeks, according to the report, the damage to the program's trajectory remains severe. The June 3 through June 14 period still finished down 6 percent in total viewers compared to the show's year-to-date average—a clear indication that Weiss's editorial overhaul has permanently alienated core audience segments.

The crisis is particularly acute because "CBS Mornings" is on pace for its worst-rated June ever, averaging just 1.7 million total viewers. For network executives, this represents a potential financial catastrophe, according to Oliver Darcy at Status.

While Tony Dokoupil's "CBS Evening News"—the prestige evening broadcast that Weiss personally installed Dokoupil to lead—has received the brunt of media attention, the morning show's collapse may be causing even greater anxiety in the C-suite, with Darcy reporting that broadcast networks' morning shows "generate the lion's share of advertising revenue, not the more prestigious evening newscasts."

CBS News is grappling with a broader brand image crisis under Weiss, Status is reporting. Her editorial overhaul and never-ending series of self-inflicted public relations disasters have systematically alienated the network's core audience, driving viewers away not only from programs she directly reshaped but from other corners of the news division as well.

Network executives have stressed a grim reality, telling Darcy, "... once those viewers are gone, it is very difficult to win them back."