Wednesday, March 24, 2021

L-A Times To Get $10M PPP Loan

The Los Angeles Times has received a $10-million loan through the federal Paycheck Protection Program — money that will help cover payroll and other employee-related costs amid a dramatic plunge in advertising revenue, the company said Tuesday.

The news organization was dealt a significant financial blow last March, when businesses abruptly pulled their advertising spending amid government-mandated shutdowns intended to slow the coronavirus spread. The pandemic upended the company’s finances, which were already strained following an unprecedented rebuilding effort and hiring spree that began in 2018 after biotech entrepreneur Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong and his wife, Michele, purchased The Times and the San Diego Union-Tribune for $500 million from Chicago-based Tribune Publishing.

The company, which is called California Times, suffered tens of millions of dollars in losses, and hasn’t recovered financially, according to President and Chief Operating Officer Chris Argentieri. Despite the challenges, the two Southern California news organizations have raced to provide readers with news about the pandemic, last fall’s elections and a historic reckoning over race in America.

The Times applied for the maximum amount available to it, Argentieri said.

“The money will be used almost exclusively for employee-related costs, including payroll and employee benefits,” Argentieri said in an interview. “We lost tens of millions of dollars in advertising revenue pretty much instantly in March 2020, and the pandemic continues to take a toll on the public health and take a toll economically. We are still operating with great uncertainty.”

Last year, lawmakers recognized the devastation of the news industry during the pandemic. A study by the consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. calculated that newsrooms experienced more than 11,000 job cuts in the first half of 2020 and hundreds of news outlets shut down. Nearly 2,800 smaller newspaper companies received PPP loans in 2020, according to the Pew Research Center. In December, Congress modified rules governing the PPP loan program to throw a lifeline to larger newspapers and local radio and TV broadcasters that also were struggling.

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