Kevin Merida Stepping Down As L-A Times Editor

Kevin Merida

Kevin Merida, who has served as executive editor of the Los Angeles Times since June 2021, announced that he will leave his role at the end of this week, an abrupt end to a short tenure.

WaPo reports he did not specify the reason for his departure, but he said his decision was made in consultation with Patrick Soon-Shiong, who has owned the publication since 2018, “after considerable soul-searching about my career at this stage and how best to be of value to the profession I love.”

In his memo to employees on Tuesday afternoon, he wrote that he was “grateful to Patrick and the Soon-Shiong family for the opportunity to help transform The Times into a modern, innovative news media company for a new generation of consumers.”

Merida joined the publication from ESPN, where he served as an executive and top editor of the culture website the Undefeated. But he spent most of his career at The Washington Post, where he rose to the level of managing editor before departing in 2015. Merida had been considered a potential successor to then-executive editor Martin Baron, and he recruited several Post employees to his new company following his departure.

In his memo, Merida said he has “no regrets” about his decision to join the publication, which he said has “made tremendous progress” toward the goal of modernizing for the future.