With a newly purchased $70.5 million stake in Tribune Publishing, Patrick Soon-Shiong, MD, founder of capital investment firm Nant Capital and health technology development company NantWorks, has become the second biggest shareholder, reports The Wall Street Journal.
In early May, Tribune Publishing rejected an $815 million unsolicited takeover bid from Gannett. Tribune Publishing said in a letter sent to Gannet that the offer was too low and not in the best interest of shareholders. A couple weeks later, Gannett upped its bid to $864 million.
Tribune Publishing has rejected the latest Gannett offer and instead will receive a growth-capital investment from Nant Capital in exchange for 4.7 million shares of Tribune stock. According to the WSJ report, the stock is valued at $15 a share, which is the same price Gannet proposed in its revised bid.
Dr. Soon-Shiong told WSJ members of the Tribune board had approached him in the past month. In addition to holding the second highest number of shares, Dr. Soon-Shiong will become the company board's vice chairman.
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