LA Times owner meets with Trump in Saudi Arabia

The billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Times met with President Trump in Saudi Arabia this week, as the president conducts several state visits while he looks to shore up relations with Middle Eastern countries.

Patrick Soon-Shiong, a health care executive and entrepreneur who owns the LA Times, was one of several business leaders, including Elon Musk and Sam Altman, who accompanied Trump on his Middle Eastern trip.

Soon-Shiong posted on 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 LA Times, and mainstream media more generally, take a different tone, and he was one of several leading news bosses to block staff editorials backing former Vice President Kamala Harris from publishing during the 2024 elections.

“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.