Three of the most influential figures in the tech and biotechnology industries, Jeff Bezos, Marc Benioff, and Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, have been experiencing financial challenges with their media investments. Their respective ventures, The Washington Post, Time Magazine, and The Los Angeles Times, have been incurring substantial losses.
What Happened: Despite the high hopes pinned on these billionaires to revitalize the media industry, their media ventures are not faring well, reported The New York Times, with the headline ‘Billionaires Wanted To Save The News Industry. They're Losing A Fortune.’
The Washington Post, owned by Bezos, and The Los Angeles Times, owned by Soon-Shiong, have been losing millions of dollars. Similarly, Time magazine, owned by Benioff, has also been experiencing significant financial losses.
The acquisitions of these media outlets by the billionaires were seen as a potential solution to the declining fortunes of the news industry. However, it seems that the challenges faced by these media outlets are reflective of the broader issues affecting the industry.
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Ann Marie Lipinski, the curator of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard, commented, “We’ve seen a lot of naïve hope attached to these owners, often from employees.”
The financial struggles are particularly concerning for The Los Angeles Times, where journalists are bracing for potential bad news. The newspaper’s editor, Kevin Merida, recently announced his resignation, reportedly due to tensions with Soon-Shiong over editorial and business priorities.
"These vitally important news publications still find themselves ‘transitioning' from print to digital — with major ongoing legacy business costs — as they build brick by brick a mainly digital future," said Ken Doctor, an analyst and media entrepreneur.
Why It Matters: The struggles of these media outlets, despite being owned by some of the wealthiest individuals, highlight the challenges facing the news industry. The decline in traditional revenue streams, such as advertising and subscriptions, has been a long-standing issue for media outlets. The pandemic further exacerbated these challenges, leading to layoffs, pay cuts, and even closures of newsrooms.
Despite the financial struggles, the owners have been actively investing in their media ventures. For instance, Bezos appointed a new CEO, William Lewis, in a bid to turn around the fortunes of The Washington Post. Meanwhile, Benioff has been vocal about the unauthorized use of media content by AI companies.
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