Eli Broad, a wealthy philanthropist who once looked at buying the Los Angeles Times, is still interested in a foray into the newspaper business, he told a gathering in New York on Monday night.
“We can’t afford to lose good newspaper journalism, investigative reporting,” the 75-year old retired business maven said during a lecture on business in philanthropy at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan.
The Times, which is owned by the Tribune Co, has like most U.S. newspapers been struggling with a steep drop in advertising revenue brought on by U.S. economic woes and a migration of readers to the Internet.
Real estate magnate Sam Zell took Tribune private in an $8.2 billion deal in 2007 that loaded up the company with billions in debt. The company filed for bankruptcy protection last year.
The L.A. Times is expected to eventually be put up for sale again.
Broad, jokingly, said: “I’ve regained my sanity since then,” referring to his earlier interest. But turning more serious, he added: “I would like to see our foundation and others join together to own the LA Times.”
Last night at the Y, entrepreneur Eli Broad, who built two Fortune 500 companies—SunAmerica Inc. and KB Home—over a five-decade career in business, discussed the philanthropic work of The Broad Foundations with Matthew Bishop, chief business writer and US business editor of The Economist. Reuters reports on the event and notes his interest in the newspaper business:
