Yesterday, when news arrived stating that a South African-born billionaire had acquired one the most widely-read newspapers in the US, many were asking, who is this Patrick Soon-Shiong?
Well, let’s take a look.
Soon-Shiong was born in 1952 in Port Elizabeth, to Chinese immigrant parents. Years later, after studying medicine at Wits, he popped over to Canada and from there, emigrated to the US.
Now, he has a current net worth of $7,8 billion (R94 billion) and is considered “America’s richest doctor” – a profile on him in the LA Times explains how he got there:
He joined the University of California – Los Angeles’s medical school – in 1983, after moving from Canada. He later left the university and founded his own medical research firm in the early 1990s, make his fortune in pharmaceuticals and health care.
Moving away from pharmaceuticals, Soon-Shiong has just bought the San Diego Union-Tribune and Los Angeles Times newspapers – the latter being one of the largest and most widely-read publications in the US – for $500m (R6 billion), reports Fin24:
In a media release on Wednesday Tronc, the newspaper’s previous owner, said it had reached an agreement to sell the Los Angeles Times, The San Diego Union-Tribune and various titles in the California News Group to Nant Capital, Soon-Shiong’s private investment vehicle.
The deal was concluded for $500m (R6bn) in cash plus the assumption of $90m (R1bn) in pension liabilities.
“We look forward to continuing the great tradition of award-winning journalism carried out by the reporters and editors of the Los Angeles Times, The San Diego Union-Tribune and the other California News Group titles,” said Soon-Shiong in a statement.
After the deal was concluded, the LA Times’ staff shared Soon-Shiong’s introductory letter on social media, and it might just make you cry:
“My own family immigrated from southern China to South Africa generations ago. We chose to settle in Los Angeles because this is the place that felt most like home.
“Ultimately, the decision is deeply personal for me. As someone who grew up in apartheid South Africa, I understand the role that journalism needs to play in a free society.”
Soon-Shiong assured the journalists that he would “work to ensure that you have the tools and resources to produce the high-quality journalism that our readers need and rely upon”.
Bless.
Before you go, HuffPost detailed a few other curious facts about the sometimes controversial doctor, including why he was sued by Cher:
- His parents had left China during World War II.
- His father was a “herbal doctor”.
- Soon-Shiong received his medical degree at the University of the Witwatersrand in the late 1970s.
- He interned at the then-Joburg Gen (now Johannesburg’s Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital), which had never admitted an ethnically Chinese student before.
- He accepted a surgical residency with the University of British Columbia.
- In Canada, he met his wife, Michele Chan, who worked at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
- The couple emigrated to the U.S. and Chan, an aspiring actress, was cast in the TV series “Danger Bay” and “MacGyver”.
- Soon-Shiong developed a method for treating diabetes by transplanting insulin-producing cells into a patient’s pancreas.
- He invented a medicine called Abraxane – a redesigned version of a top-selling cancer drug called Taxol. He sold the company that developed Abraxane to Celgene for $2.9-billion (now ~R35-billion) in 2010.
- Soon-Shiong also built and sold another pharmaceutical company, generic drugmaker APP Pharmaceuticals, which was acquired by German company Fresenius for an estimated $4.6-billion (~R55.6-billion).
- He has become the target of several lawsuits claiming he is a “malicious businessman”. He has also been sued by singer Cher, who claims he and others duped her into selling shares in a promising drug company back to the firm at a fraction of the stock’s value.
- In 2017, Soon-Shiong launched Cancer Breakthrough 2020 — a collaboration of companies, doctors and researchers aiming to conquer cancer in just four years.
- He is an avid basketball player and is a part owner of the Los Angeles Lakers.
And now you know.
[source:fin24]
