The billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Times met with President Trump in Saudi Arabia this week, as the president conducts several state visits as he looks to shore up relations with Middle Eastern countries.
Patrick Soon-Shiong, a healthcare executive and entrepreneur who owns the Times, was one of several business leaders, including Elon Musk, Sam Altman and Reid Hoffman, who accompanied Trump on his Middle Eastern trip.
Soon-Shiong posted on the social platform X he was “honored to share” time with the president and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on cancer prevention innovation initiatives “and our common goal to cure cancer.”
Soon-Shiong has spoken openly about his desire to see coverage from the Times, and mainstream media more generally, take a different tone and was one of several leading news bosses to kill staff editorials backing former Vice President Harris.
“I knew I’d get pushback. If you want to lead, you have to lead, so we took that position,” Soon-Shiong told Fox News Digital in January in defense of the decision to not endorse a presidential candidate in last year’s presidential election.
